ABSTRACT
@#The increasing demand for mental health services worldwide and the continuing development of government policies for mental health require a huge contribution from psychiatric mental health nurses. However, previous studies reveal that the roles of psychiatric mental health nurses lack distinctiveness compared with other members of the health care team; thus the need for clearer identification of their role. This study intended to describe the perceived roles of psychiatric mental health nurses in selected hospital-based psychiatric settings. Qualitative descriptive study design was used. A purposive sample of eleven (11) psychiatric mental health nurses and twelve (12) non-nurses (i.e. psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, social worker, and occupational therapists) participated in semi-structured interviews about their perceived roles of psychiatric mental health nurses. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. It was found out that the perceived roles of psychiatric mental health nurses are direct care provider, facilitator of family and therapeutic group activities, manager of therapeutic environment, educator, collaborator, patient advocate and researcher. It also showed that the roles of psychiatric mental health nurses are clearly established in hospital-based psychiatric settings and that the perception of psychiatric nurses about their roles is consistent with the roles that other mental healthcare professionals expect from them.