Barriers and Needs of Mental Health Nursing Practitioners toward the Provision of Physical Health Care for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey in India

Abstract

Despite the potential and opportunity for nurses in mental health settings to deliver comprehensive care to individuals with severe mental illnesses, existing evidence indicates inadequacy in providing physical health care. To understand this gap, we examined the mental health nurse’s attitudes, practices, training needs, and barriers toward physical healthcare of individuals with severe mental illness and explored the associated socio-demographic differences. All mental health nurses working in an apex mental health care center in India were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire, which included a socio-demographic profile and the Physical Health Attitude Scale (PHASe). Overall, the nurses held positive attitudes, with items related to smoking and confidence toward physical health care delivery showing more positive ratings than those items related to attitude and perceived barriers. Lack of motivation from patients and nurse’s workload in provision of psychiatric care were perceived as major barriers. Nurses with lesser years of experience had a slightly more positive attitude. The findings have important implications for mental health nursing practice and training toward strengthening holistic nursing care for individuals with severe mental illness, specifically in countries with limited resources.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all participants for their active participation and cooperation.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the College of Nursing, National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India (Ref No NIMH/CON/GJ/2020-21). Before taking part in the study, all participants provided written informed consent.

Author contributions

We confirm that all authors listed meet the authorship criteria according to the latest guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and that all authors are in agreement with the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.