ATTITUDE OF NURSES TOWARDS RELAPSE PREVENTION AMONG PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS IN FEDERAL NEUROPSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL

ATTITUDE OF NURSES TOWARDS RELAPSE PREVENTION AMONG PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS IN FEDERAL NEUROPSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

For millennia, psychiatric disease has interested and perplexed physicians, scientists, and philosophers; its symptoms have been attributed to possession by demons, deemed divine punishment for evil done, or accepted as evidence of the inhumanity of its victims.

As a result of this reasoning, persons who were diagnosed with such diseases faced long-term stigma. Much of the stigma persists today, owing to society’s inability to bear the enormous cost involved with mental illness rather than demonic possession.

Relapse is one of the most serious issues facing mental health carers. It affects around 1.3% of all previously treated cases of mental illness, or more than two million persons (USDHHS 1999). Its economic cost is enviable.

The direct cost of relapse treatment charges for most psychiatric illnesses was projected to be 2.5% of the entire treatment budget for first-hand mental illness care in 1998 (American Psychiatric Association [APA] 2000). The latest year for which these data were available (USDHHS 1999).

In 1997, this accountant was responsible for $23.6 billion in mental health care spending. The indirect cost, including missed pay, early death, and jail, was projected to be $46 billion in the first half of 1998 (APA, 2000).

Furthermore, unemployment among people with persistent disabilities is 10% (APA 1998). The cost of relapse in terms of personal and familial pain is likely incalculable.

Despite current trends in contemporary therapy, there is an alarming rate of relapse and recurrence of psychiatric illness worldwide. People who should be useful and responsible in life are wasting away on a daily basis.

Today, patients are forced to stay in the hospital for a brief length of time before being discharged to their home environment in order to reduce dependency on medical care and recurrence. This also helps to minimise stigma and prevent difficulties (Feyinsayo, A. 2009).

This study will seek to provide an overview of nurses as well as demonstrate how optimal utilisation of mental nursing services will go a long way towards lowering and eliminating the ever-increasing incidences of relapse among psychiatric patients at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Barnawa in Kaduna.

1.2 Statement of Problem

In recent years, the regularity with which patients have been readmitted to the hospital has become an issue. This has made it impossible to obtain effective symptom control and cure for patients.

Nursing staff and the hospital have been frustrated by the readmission of patients who were recently returned home after being stabilised during admission.

Some patients relapse as soon as they are sent home. Other patients on trials relapse after being discharged, while others relapse while still in the hospital. Various issues, including financial problems and a lack of competent staff, have contributed to patient relapses.

Some patients travel for a day or two to get to the hospital, resulting in poor supervision and access to mental health care. Other issues include stigmatisation and reliance on carers.

All of these factors have contributed to the prevalence of recurrence in the management of various patient populations, resulting in social impairment. Hence, resulting in the following:

Low manpower

Untold hardship.

Financial restrictions

Societal nuisance

If the situation is not handled effectively and solutions are not found, the economy and society will suffer, in addition to the untold misery.

This is what prompted the researcher to examine the source, provide recommendations, improve the situation, and lower the high rate of relapse.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1. To assess the association between nurses’ educational backgrounds and attitudes towards relapse prevention.

2. Determine the association between the nurse’s position and her capacity to avoid relapse among psychiatric patients.

3. Determine the association between the Nurse’s experience and their ability to identify relapse symptoms.

4. To determine whether poverty predisposes psychiatric patients to relapse.

5. To investigate the link between drug compliance in psychiatric patients and relapse prevention.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The purpose of this study is to assist nurses in developing a positive attitude towards providing care to psychiatric patients, thereby reducing the incidence of relapses.

1.5 Research questions.

1. What is the relationship between the Nurse’s educational background and her attitude towards relapse prevention?

2. What is the nurse’s ability to prevent relapse among mental patients?

3. What is the Nurse’s experience in identifying symptoms of relapse?

4. Can poverty make psychiatric patients more likely to relapse?

5. Can drug compliance prevent relapse in mental patients?

1.6 Scope of Study

The scope of this study is limited to the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Barnawa Kaduna, a tertiary healthcare institution owned by Nigeria’s federal government.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

Financial constraints exist due to a lack of enough funds. The limitations of this study stemmed from a lack of time due to the study’s timing constraints.

1.8 Operational Definitions of Terms

Attitude refers to your thoughts and feelings about something.

Disability: Any constraint or lack of capacity to do an activity in the way or within the range considered typical for a human being.

Management: The process of treatment or management of disease or disorders or the care of patient who suffer them.

Nurse: A person whose job is to care for those who are ill.

Psychiatric Nursing: This is an area of medicine that deals with the prevention, treatments, diagnosis, causation of mental illness.

Prevention: To keep away from happening or arising of stop from occurring.

A psychiatric patient is someone who has a mental illness, whether it be slight or severe.

Rehabilitation: Return to effectiveness or normal living by training, often after illness.

Relapse is the recurrence of disease after a period of convalescence.