effect of assertive training techniques on improving coping skills of nurses in psychiatric set up

ABSTRACT

Psychiatric mental health nurses are confronted with the daily responsibility of assessing, intervening and evaluating client responses to stress and client interactions. They need to identify the meaning of their own stress and develop strategies that increase personal and professional growth. Some nurses may have learned to express their needs honestly to use anger constructively, to improve personal and work relation ships and to build self-confidence through assertive behavior. But others still struggle with being assertive, perhaps because they don't believe they have the right to be assertive, they are anxious about asserting themselves or they don't know how to be assertive Learning assertive techniques are considered as tools for coping skills with a variety of life stressors. Increasing assertive behavior becomes an expression of person's feelings. So the aim of this study was to assess the effects of assertive training techniques on coping skills of nurses working in psychiatric setup. The study was conducted on nurses at Tanta Mental Health Hospital, Ministry of Health [n=58]. Data were collected using four tools, Assessment of Coping Skill inventory, Assertiveness inventory, 5 selected situations, 5 selected clinical situations used only as a post-test. The study showed that a significant change was found in level of assertiveness responses and coping responses of the studied nurses before and after training. The assertiveness training affect on coping level of the nurses significantly as the coping level of nurses has improved after the training. This revealed that the assertiveness training helped nurses to communicate and to be more tolerant to their patients in different situations