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Depression among Mental Health Nurse: An Article Review

Introduction of Topic and Explanation why it is Important to Mental Health Nursing

This paper will be based on an article by Wang et al. (2015) titled, The relationships among work stress, resourcefulness, and depression level in psychiatric nurses. In this article, the authors acknowledge the fact that a significant number of psychiatric nurses are exposed to highly stressful working conditions which often expose them to the risk of developing depression after some time. Generally, depression has been described to be an epidemic not only among psychiatric nurses, but also among all other nurses in various fields. Incidences of clinical depression among nurses is twice that of the general public. However, one would wonder why despite the high rates of depression, nurses do not talk about it. Some argue that nurses are afraid that patients will stop trusting them while some argue that psychiatric nurses find it difficult to seek mental care yet they have been in the caring position. 

It is of great importance to address the issue of depression in mental health nursing to avoid putting patients being attended to by depressed nurses as well as prevent winding up of the nursing profession by losing nurses to job stresses. Some of the factors that have been attributed to the depression of psychiatric nurses include long working hours, poor pay, and lack of enough resources for delivering quality mental care services. Family problems can also exacerbate nurses’ stresses, making them feel out of control such that they cannot control their shifts, the patient load as well as the hopelessness that they experience when patients die.

Feelings of helplessness often pervade depressed nurses. The culture of survival among nurses often makes them feel as if they are always under tension leading to stress, anxiety, and depression. However, Wang et al. (2015) posit that resourcefulness can be used by nurses as a tool for handling work stresses.

Statistics to Support the Significance of the Topic

In their article, Wang et al. (2015) note that prolonged exposure to stressful working conditions can easily make psychiatric nurses to suffer from stress situations and develop symptoms of depression. It has been reported that depression affects about 9 percent of everyday citizens and about 18 percent of nurses; this is twice the rate of the general population. Similarly, a study was conducted in China where it was established that approximately 74.9% of nurses have symptoms of mild depression. Another study was done in Taiwan to examine the incidence of depression among psychiatric nurses where it was noted that about 17 to 28 percent of the nurses had symptoms of depression and dysthymia.

Article Summary and Key Points Findings

The article involves a study which was conducted with an aim of examining the relationship among work stress, resourcefulness, and levels of depression among psychiatric nurses (Wang et al., 2015). Six healthcare institutions in Taiwan were involved whereby a total of 154 psychiatric nurses were recruited from (Wang et al., 2015).

One of the findings that was established in the study is that there is a positive correlation between work stress with levels of depression among psychiatric nurses and a negative relationship between work stress and the nurses’ resourcefulness (Wang et al., 2015). The results led to a conclusion that health centers should develop training courses about skills on resourcefulness to aid in reducing work stress among psychiatric nurses and promote their mental health as well as the quality care delivered by the nurses (Wang et al., 2015).

How I could use the Information for my Practice

First, I gained important insights from the article. For instance, I learned that highly resourceful individuals can make good use of resourceful skills such as; seeking help from other practitioners, engaging in positive talk, and participate in active problem solving strategies in reducing or eliminating the harms caused by stress. Just like the psychiatric nurses in the study, I also occasionally encounter stressful working days where I feel like giving up. For example, I am usually discouraged when one of my patients passes away. At times, it takes a couple of days for me to recover. However, I have learned important ways of solving work stress which I am going to apply and gain control of some of my negative thoughts and feelings.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article

One of the weaknesses of the article is that the psychiatric nurses were recruited from limited medical centers instead of a variety of community medical facilities. This led to generalization of the study findings. Conversely, the primary strength of the article is that the study targeted psychiatric nurses who are thought to be well versed in solving mental health problems, and are therefore less likely to develop mental illnesses. The fact that these nurses have mental illnesses indicates that mental illness among nurses is a major problem that should not be ignored. Nurses should be encouraged to speak up about this topic.

Whether I would Recommend the Article to other Colleagues

Indeed, I would recommend my colleagues to read the article. This is because I have had discussions before with some of them complaining about the tough working conditions and how they are on the verge of giving up. I believe by reading the article, they can learn about the importance of inner self-control, self-efficacy as well as self-direction as some of the tools of coping with stressful situations.

Conclusion

Mental health nursing is a topic that is gaining attention among nurses. Contrary to the popular belief that nurses are fine, nurses are also stressed and depressed just like any other person. It is for this reason that nurses are encouraged to regularly speak up about their mental stability. Health care institutions have also been asked to establish training courses to teach nurses about ways of coping with work stresses.