Nursing Students’ Perceptions Toward Recovery in Mental Health: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Recovery in mental health remains inconclusive where the two most prevailing definitions “clinical” and “personal” remain. In nursing schools, students are predominantly taught straightforward concepts of clinical recovery, which result in only a perfunctory and rudimentary understanding of recovery among the undergraduates.

AIMS

To explore the perceptions of nursing undergraduates on recovery for people experiencing mental health conditions.

METHOD

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted on 14 nursing undergraduates from Years 1 to 4 of the study. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling, and the required sample size was determined by data saturation. Semistructured questions were used during the individual face-to-face interviews from October and December 2019. Recordings were transcribed verbatim; the transcripts were then subjected to thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Three themes were identified to support the research questions: (1) semantics of major terms used in mental health care—where participants provided the description of terminologies used; (2) the meaning of recovery—where participants explained their views on “recovery”; and (3) sources of conceptualization—where participants explained their conceptual understanding on mental health conditions and recovery.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that the need for a more holistic approach encompassing personal recovery should be included in the nursing curriculum. This is necessary to promote enabling support in the recovery of people experiencing mental health conditions beyond medical interventions.