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Accessible summary: What is known on the subject: If women suffer from postpartum psychosis, treatment in a specialist facility like a psychiatric mother–baby unit is recommended and should focus on the maternal health, mother–baby outcomes and the care for the next of kin.The role of mental health nurses on a mother–baby unit is essential but challenging, given the complex problems and care needs of the patient, the baby and family members.To date, very little evidence about effective nursing interventions for patients with postpartum psychosis is available. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This paper systematically describes nursing interventions and their rationale for patients with postpartum psychosis admitted to a specialized mother–baby unit.Given the limited scientific evidence for effective nursing interventions for patients with postpartum psychosis, knowledge was obtained from a best‐practice setting (i.e., a specialized mother–baby unit), thus providing a basis for the systematic development of nursing interventions to be tested on effectiveness in future studies. Implications for mental health nursing: Mental health nurses play an essential role in the multidisciplinary treatment team in providing information on the patient's personal functioning and her ability to take care for the baby, in order to determine the appropriate amount of guidance and protection, in order to prevent harm and promote recovery.To provide integrated and personalized nursing care, mental health nurses should tailor their interventions to the needs of the patient, the baby and the next of kin, adapted to the successive stages of treatment. Introduction: Postpartum psychosis is one of the severest psychiatric disorders to occur in the postpartum period. If it requires a woman's admission, a psychiatric mother–baby unit is recommended, where care will focus on the mother's health, the mother–baby dyad and their next of kin. To date, few studies have examined nursing interventions for patients with postpartum psychosis. Aim: Identifying nursing interventions used at a psychiatric mother–baby unit, when a patient is hospitalized with postpartum psychosis. Method: A qualitative design using thematic analysis. Data were collected using semi‐structured interviews (N = 13) with expert nurses working at such a unit. Results: The analysis identified three themes: (a) treatment of the mental disorder, which involves interventions to improve the mother's mental and physical well‐being; (b) care for the mother–baby dyad, which involves interventions intended to promote safe interactions between mother and baby; and (c) care for the partner, which involves interventions to improve the partner's well‐being. Discussion: Overall, within each of these themes, nurses described the urgency to tailor interventions to the needs of the patient, baby and partner. Implications to practice: Our comprehensive description of interventions can be used for the improvement of nursing care for patients hospitalized with postpartum psychosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: What is known on the subject?: Client aggression in forensic psychiatry is associated with burnout symptoms in nursing staff. It is unclear what mechanisms contribute to this relationship.The type and severity of aggression might be of importance in the association between client aggression and burnout symptoms, but also the personality characteristics and emotional intelligence of nursing staff.It is unknown whether wearable devices that measure arousal can be used to detect chronic stress and burnout symptoms. What does this paper add to existing knowledge?: Especially, physical aggression as experienced by nursing staff is associated with staff's burnout symptoms (e.g., emotional exhaustion and depersonalization). Further research on the aggression questionnaire is necessary.The stress management skill of nursing staff is an important factor to consider in the association between burnout symptoms and client aggression.The wearable device was not useful for detecting burnout symptoms. What are the implications for practice?: Nursing staff who experience (physical) aggression should be carefully monitored and should receive social support from their management to aid their well‐being. Contrary to intuition, nurses who reported a higher number of stress management skills might have to be monitored more closely if necessary. Introduction: Aggressive behaviour of forensic clients is associated with burnout symptoms in nursing staff. The role of staff characteristics as moderators is unclear. Aim: We explored the association between type and severity of aggressive behaviour as experienced by nursing staff and staff's burnout symptoms. In addition, the moderating roles of personality characteristics and emotional intelligence (EI) were studied. Moreover, the usefulness of ambulatory skin conductance assessments in detecting arousal related to burnout symptoms was studied. Method: A total of 114 forensic nursing staff members filled out questionnaires and wore an ambulatory device. Results: Experiencing physical aggression was positively associated with staff's burnout symptoms. Stress management skills, a subscale of EI, but not personality, moderated this relationship. Skin conductance was not associated with burnout symptoms. Remarkably, the association between aggression and burnout symptoms was highest for staff reporting a higher number of stress management skills. Discussion: Longitudinal research is necessary to establish causality between client aggression and staff burnout symptoms. In addition, further research is necessary on the validity of the aggression measure used in the current study. Implication for practice: Nursing staff who experience physical aggression frequently should receive social support for this, and staff who report high stress management skills should be monitored more carefully after having been confronted with aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: What is already known about the subject: Working in long‐term care is seen as a stressful, physically and mentally demanding occupation, and thus, nursing staff are at risk for work and stress‐related diseases. In older patients, psychiatric illnesses often occur in combination with physical illnesses, requiring nursing care that is specific to these combined care needs. The impact of caring for these patients on the mental well‐being of nurses is unknown. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: Nursing staff working on specialized units for patients with combined care needs experience high levels of self‐efficacy in combination with strong feelings of self‐rated competence. Although levels of burnout are relatively low, mental healthcare nursing staff is more at risk for burnout when working in specialized settings for patients with combined care needs than nursing home staff working in specialized settings for these patients. Nursing staff characteristics, such as years of working experience and age, seem more important in relation to staff well‐being than patient characteristics in specialized settings for combined care needs. What are the implications for practice: Staff well‐being might benefit from specializing care, so that patients with similar care needs are placed together and care is focused. The presence of specialized care units for older patients with combined care needs can allow for both targeted and focused allocation of nursing staff to these units and provision of specific training. Abstract: Introduction: In older patients, psychiatric illnesses frequently exist in tandem with physical illnesses, requiring nursing care that is specific to these combined care needs. The impact of caring for these patients on the mental well‐being of nursing staff is unknown. Aim: To investigate whether care characteristics of patients with combined care needs are related to the mental well‐being of nursing staff. Method: Well‐being of nursing staff was studied within a larger exploratory observational cross‐sectional study that examined the differences and similarities of specialized combined care units in Dutch mental healthcare and nursing home settings. Results: Nursing staff across settings, with more than 5 years of work experience, felt competent in caring for patients with combined care needs. No significant effects of care characteristics of patients with combined care needs on the work‐related well‐being of nursing staff were shown. Both mental health nursing staff and older employees, however, were found to be more at risk for burnout. Implications/Conclusion: Staff well‐being might benefit from placing patients with combined care needs together, so care is focused. The presence of specialized care units can allow for both targeted and focused allocation of nursing staff to these units and provision of specific training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary What is known on the subject? Nurses play an important role in monitoring and supporting patients and their relatives at the end of life., To date, there is a lack of recent empirical research on the experiences of psychiatric nurses in providing palliative care to psychiatric patients who suffer from life-threatening physical co-morbidity., The limited literature available indicates that palliative care for psychiatric patients needs to be improved., What this paper adds to existing knowledge? This explorative study is unique in offering an insight into current palliative care practice for psychiatric patients and showed that one in three nurses working in Dutch mental health facilities is involved in palliative care provision., Important elements of palliative care, i.e.: care domains, multidisciplinary approach, early recognition and family care are recognized by nurses. Moreover, in palliative care for psychiatric patients there is more attention for psychosocial and spiritual care compared to palliative care for patients without psychiatric disorders., Patient characteristics and little attention for palliative care within mental health facilities were found to hamper timely and adequate palliative care provision by nurses., What are the implications for research and practice? Educating psychiatric nurses about palliative care and close collaboration between physical and mental health care are crucial to address the palliative care needs of this vulnerable patient group., Since mental health care is increasingly provided ambulatory, the development of palliative care for psychiatric patients outside mental health facilities should be closely monitored., Abstract Introduction Recent empirical research on palliative care for psychiatric patients is lacking. Aim The aim of this study was to explore nurses' experiences with and identify barriers to providing palliative care to psychiatric patients in Dutch mental health facilities. Methods Mixed-methods; 137 nurses working in Dutch mental health facilities completed a survey. Nine participated in in-depth interviews. Results Thirty-six percent of nurses had experience with providing palliative care to psychiatric patients with physical co-morbidity in the past 2 years. Of all patients, 63% received physical care before death, 46% psychosocial care and 33% spiritual care. In 91% of all cases, care was provided by multidisciplinary teams. Patient characteristics and little attention to palliative care were barriers for timely and adequate palliative care. Discussion In palliative care for psychiatric patients, there is more attention for psychosocial and spiritual care compared to palliative care for patients without psychiatric disorders. Yet there are barriers to adequate palliative care provision. Implications for practice Educating psychiatric nurses about palliative care and close collaboration between physical and mental health care are crucial to address the palliative care needs of psychiatric patients. Since mental health care is increasingly provided ambulatory, palliative care for psychiatric patients outside mental health facilities should be closely monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary In addition to medical and psychosocial treatment of impairments, societal participation should be recognized as an important treatment goal for patients with schizophrenia, and it can be applied in daily practice by nurses and social workers, even when psychiatric impairments require acute care., Our research indicated that rehabilitation counselling by nurses and social workers within a multidisciplinary team helps to increase the societal participation level of young people with schizophrenia, while their impairments scores remained stable., Patients with more mild impairments seemed to profit more from rehabilitation counselling while patients whose impairments were more severe seemed to profit less. Our research also indicated that patients with similar levels of impairment did not show differences in their level of societal participation, regardless of drug use., Drug use as such is not a contraindication for rehabilitation counselling. Treatment of impairments, including management of drug addiction, should be closely interwoven with support for a patient's rehabilitation goals., Abstract This paper is based on research that focuses on the impact of a rehabilitation approach with respect to 99 young people diagnosed with schizophrenia in a Dutch mental health facility. The approach focused on societal participation goals. Nurses and social workers play a key role in such treatment. The research focused on developmental trajectories and showed significant improvement with respect to societal participation levels. Impairment scores remained stable. The results indicate that rehabilitation counselling by nurses and social workers, in addition to medication and psychosocial treatment and integrated in a multidisciplinary team, can make a difference in a patient's societal participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]