Lacking in rigour: A case-study of the professional practice of psychiatric nurses in four community mental health teams

Abstract

In this article I report on a two-year study of the professional status of 10 psychiatric nurses, working in four community mental health teams. Diary-interview Schedules were used to record how new clients are processed by the psychiatric nurse. The other members the teams were interviewed (as were the managers to whom the nurses are accountable), using Focused-interview Schedules. The quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. An adapted form of the technique advocated by Burnard (1991) was used to analyse the qualitative data. Conclusions from the research indicate that the nurses experience a high degree of de facto clinical autonomy, which is characterised by unsupervised and arbitrary decision-making processes. Specific recommendations are made with regard to community mental health teams, and community psychiatric nursing practice.