Support interventions for nurses working in acute psychiatric units: A systematic review

Diverse support interventions have been implemented to provide support for nurses working in acute psychiatric settings. These interventions aimed at modifying the psychological and social factors, as they either prevent stress responses or reduce its effects to improve the psychological well-being of staff. This study aimed to examine effective stress reduction interventions for nurses and to identify key elements of these successful interventions. Studies included in this review were conducted in acute psychiatric settings. A comprehensive search of electronic databases was conducted for support intervention studies between 2010 and 2021. The search yielded 315 studies that were reduced to seven studies after being reviewed by two independent reviewers. The studies were coded, and key elements were identified. Seven studies that were included consisted of a randomised controlled trial, quasi-experimental design and single-group design. Interventions included mindfulness-based stress reduction, burnout prevention programmes, communication skills, educational programme, group intervention, resilience training programme and stress management. Four key elements emerged from these interventions, namely, educational support, interpersonal skills, psychological support and adaptive coping. The findings highlighted the diverse interventions in supporting psychiatric nurses to cope with stress. However, there is a dearth of studies in acute psychiatric settings that were mostly done in emergency settings. Knowledge gained from this review may assist with practice improvement as managers can implement the identified interventions.

Experiences of grandmothers caring for female adolescents living with HIV in rural Manzini, Eswatini: a caregiver stress model perspective

The HIV pandemic has immense effects on the Eswatini population. The burden of caregiving rests on women, typically grandmothers who are elderly and dealing with chronic diseases themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of grandmothers in Eswatini caring for female adolescents living with HIV. The study draws on phenomenological fieldwork of six case studies of grandmother­granddaughter pairs who were purposively sampled. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews that commenced with broad questions: "How is it for you to care for a female adolescent living with HIV?" for the grandmothers, and "How is it for you to live with HIV?" for female adolescents. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically following the elements of the caregiver stress theory. Drawing on the caregiver stress model, grandmothers and female adolescents experienced input stimuli of financial difficulties related to daily provisions for food and transport fare. Control processes experienced by grandmothers and female adolescents related to feelings of loss, grief, fear, hopelessness and isolation along with suicidal ideation for female adolescents. Regarding output stimuli, grandmothers and female adolescents developed psychological unrest related to difficulty accepting the HIV diagnosis and concerns about the future. Grandmothers experienced ill health due to the demands of the caregiving role. It is recommended that family, financial and psychological support be made available for grandmothers to lighten the duty of caregiving