Nurses’ Perceptions of Patient Safety in Community Mental Health Settings: A Qualitative Study

Mental health care has moved from hospital settings to community mental health settings, and there is a need to explore the perceptions of patient safety among registered nurses working in this field. Patient safety is to include everyone and to be the goal in all aspects of health care. The aim of the study was to explore registered nurses’ perceptions of patient safety in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness. The study was qualitative and descriptive in nature and interviews were carried out during spring 2012, with seven registered nurses working in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness in five municipalities in the middle of Sweden. The sampling was purposive and data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings showed that the registered nurses understood patient safety as providing support to people with serious mental illness in regaining and maintaining health through good treatment and respecting self-determination and avoiding coercion. The terms of daily living in small community mental health settings within the a large community health care organization, communication, sufficient knowledge of psychiatric disabilities among people in the residents’ network, and national laws and regulations, all had implications for patient safety. The registered nurses perceived patient safety as involving a wide range of issues that in other areas of care are more often discussed in terms of quality of care. Determining the boundaries of patient safety in community mental health settings for people with serious mental illness can be a first step in establishing workable routines that ensure safe patient care.

The current status of community mental health services in three northern areas of China

Objective:This study investigated and discussed the current status of community mental health service in three northern areas of China(Beijing,Harbin,and Karamay)in an effort to improve the community mental health services in China.Methods:In this study 176 residents from communities of the three northern areas of China were involved and divided into 18 groups.The study was conducted according to a self-prepared structured interview outline.Results:The analysis was conducted based on the following four perspectives:1.commu-nity residents’understanding of the mental health problems and how they treated psychiatric patients;2.community residents’access to and application of mental health information;3.com-munity residents’attitude to accept mental health services and the factors influencing community residents to seek help from mental health services;and 4.community residents’attitude and will-ingness to participate in the activities of community mental health services.Conclusion:Based on the investigation and analysis regarding the current status of the com-munity mental health services in three northern areas of China,it is concluded that the residents do not have s clear and complete understanding of mental health.The characteristics of mental health services had a regional correlation.Currently,the mental health services do not work effectively,and the residents are somewhat passive in obtaining information about mental health.Community mental health services should be offered according to different individual needs of the residents and the actual situations of each region.

The nurses’ voice of working in a newly established community based 24-hour support center for people with psychiatric disabilities

This study explores the perceptions of a small group of nurses working at a newly established 24-hour community-based service enter (SC) for users with psychiatric disability using a qualitative approach. Since the mental health reform in Sweden in 1995 where the communities (in Sweden called municipalities) were given the responsibility to establish service and support to people with severe psychiatric disabilities, they have struggled in finding suitable forms of these kinds of areas. In 2010, this led to the creation and development of a new center aiming to provide services and support based on the expressed needs of people with physchiatric disability in a community located in southern Sweden. During 2011, a total of three group interviews were performed to capture the employed nurses’ perceptions of this newly established SC. The interview texts were analyzed by way of qualitative content analysis. A first reading of the interview texts revealed that the nurses’ perceptions of the service center were unwaveringly positive but that their beliefs about who the specific target group were differed. The main finding was summarized by the theme: Making a difference—on an individual, professional, and organizational level. The sub themes were: 24-hour availability, unclear assignment, and preventing mental illness. The findings indicate a need for a community round-the-clock service center in this Swedish community and a more clear definition of the target group.

Efficacy of a Community-Based Trauma Recovery Program after a Fire Disaster

As industries develop,fire disasters and their associated damage are increasing.Investigating the mental health of victims is imperative because this is an essential issue for community recovery after a disaster.This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of a program implemented by a community mental health center based on the investigation of the victims’depression and post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)levels immediately after the disaster and at one-year follow-up.As a result,victims’depression and PTSD recovered over time,and more changes were confirmed.In particular,the high-risk group for PTSD showed a high program participation rate,and there was significant recovery over time compared with the group without PTSD.Based on these results,community mental health programs are an effective way to increase community mental health after disasters.In the future,community-based recovery programs after disasters should be expanded,and administrative support for them should be developed.

The Early Emotional Responses and Central Issues of People in the Epicenter of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis from Twitter Text Mining

This study aimed to explore citizens’emotional responses and issues of interest in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic.The dataset comprised 65,313 tweets with the location marked as New York State.The data collection period was four days of tweets when New York City imposed a lockdown order due to an increase in confirmed cases.Data analysis was performed using R Studio.The emotional responses in tweets were analyzed using the Bing and NRC(National Research Council Canada)dictionaries.The tweets’central issue was identified by Text Network Analysis.When tweets were classified as either positive or negative,the negative sentiment was higher.Using the NRC dictionary,eight emotional classifications were devised:“trust,”“fear,”“anticipation,”“sadness,”“anger,”“joy,”“surprise,”and“disgust.”These results indicated that citizens showed negative and trusting emotional reactions in the early days of the pandemic.Moreover,citizens showed a strong interest in overcoming and coping with other people such as social solidarity.Citizens were concerned about the confirmation of COVID-19 infection status and death.Efforts should be made to ensure citizens’psychological stability by promptly informing them of the status of infectious disease management and the route of infection.

The lived experience of a 24-hour support center for persons with psychiatric disabilities: Making me feel almost like an ordinary person

This study illuminates nine psychiatric disabled persons’ lived experience of a newly established community-based service center open around the clock. This new 24-hour support center (SC) was established in 2011 in a Swedish community to better match and facilitate the disabled persons’ needs. In order to illuminate the disabled person’s experiences individual interview was performed. A phenomenological-hermeneutical method inspired by Paul Ricoeur was used to interpret the texts. After a naive reading, a structural analysis revealed two themes: 1), becoming aware of myself as a person, and 2) having a lifeline and belongingness. The comprehensive understanding was interpreted as meaning “Making me feel almost like an ordinary person”, which incorporated the person’s past with their present together with a direction for the future and hope for a more fulfilling life.