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Article
Publication date: 8 June 2015

Rosie Blagg and Stephanie Petty

The purpose of this paper is to explore how staff attend to their well-being when working in an inpatient mental health setting with older adults with dementia and complex mental…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how staff attend to their well-being when working in an inpatient mental health setting with older adults with dementia and complex mental health needs; how staff understand the link between their well-being and the well-being of patients.

Design/methodology/approach

A semi-structured group interview was held with 11 members of two multidisciplinary teams. The discussion was audio-recorded and analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

Staff reported managing their well-being by both connecting with and avoiding the difficult emotions of the work. The team avoided the gravity of the work through humour, a task-focus, an absence of thinking and the displacement of workplace frustrations onto an outgroup. Connecting with emotions was done in tolerable ways: in contained reflective spaces, in the presence of supportive others, through genuine connections with patients as people and when the organisation demonstrated care for the staff.

Practical implications

Avoidant strategies appeared to represent short-term ways of maintaining staff well-being, while connecting with the gravity of the work appeared to represent what we hope is a more sustainable approach to managing well-being. A crucial premise for staff well-being is teams embedded within organisations that care for their employees.

Originality/value

Poor staff well-being can have serious consequences for an organisation, particularly in the existentially challenging environment of dementia care. This study offers a unique opportunity to explore staff well-being in a UK inpatient mental health setting with older adults with dementia and complex mental health needs.

Details

Mental Health Review Journal, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1361-9322

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Publication date: 14 December 2023

Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter

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Abstract

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Unsettling Colonial Automobilities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-082-5

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Article
Publication date: 14 March 2016

Samantha Rankin and Stephanie Petty

The perspectives of frontline clinical staff working with individuals in later life within an inpatient mental health setting, of their role in recovery, have not yet been…

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Abstract

Purpose

The perspectives of frontline clinical staff working with individuals in later life within an inpatient mental health setting, of their role in recovery, have not yet been explored. The purpose of this paper is to understand what recovery means within an inpatient mental health setting for older adults. The authors address clear implications for clinical practice.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 multidisciplinary participants across two specialist older adult recovery units at an independent hospital in the UK. Thematic analysis was applied to the transcripts.

Findings

Three main themes were identified: participants identified their normative task as the promotion of “moving on” (clinical recovery) and their existential task as personal recovery. The context in which recovery happens was highlighted as the third theme. These represented competing workplace goals of clinical and personal recovery. This highlights the need to give permission to personal recovery as the process that enables mental health recovery in older adults.

Originality/value

Staff working in a inpatient mental health service for older adults discussed the meaning of recovery and their role in enabling recovery. This has implications for sustainable clinical practice in this setting. Recovery-orientated practice in this setting is required but the detail is not yet understood.

Details

Mental Health Review Journal, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1361-9322

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