Nurses' Experiences of Assessing Suicide Risk in Specialised Mental Health Outpatient Care in Rural Areas

Figures & data

Table 1. Presentation of participants' characteristics (n = 12).

	n	Median
Gender
Women	8
Men	4
Age	39–62	56
Profession
Registered nurse	8
Enrolled nurse	4
Education
Specialist training in mental health nursing	7
Basic training in psychotherapy	8
Registered psychotherapist	1
Motivated intervention/Social psychiatry	4/1
Years employed in mental health out-patient care	1.5–14	14

Table 2. Presentation of the subcategories, categories, and theme revealed during the analysis.

Subcategory	Category	Theme
• Ambivalent messages	Uncertainty	Feeling anguish due to lack of control
• Short-term assessments
• Old beliefs contributing to uncertainty
• Agreements and routines for better or for worse
• Experience and intuition as resources
• Constantly looking for signs	Loneliness
• Having sole responsibility
• Patient integrity versus professional obligations	Ethical issues
• Private experiences about life and death versus maintaining professionalism
• Bridging geographical distance	Organisational challenges
• Improving teamwork