Attending regular peer group support sessions can improve the wellbeing of mental health nurses, according to researchers in Western Australia, but work sometimes gets in the way.
The study authors said that peer groups were a “pragmatic” intervention that could be implemented in clinical practice to support nurse wellbeing.
“The demanding nature of mental health nurse work can lead to stressors that negatively impact psychological health”
Alannah Cooper
They highlighted, in particular, that the work mental health nurses undertook was challenging and could have negative impacts on psychological wellbeing.
Finding ways to support them and promote wellbeing was, therefore, “essential”, said the nurse researchers in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.
The study was led by Dr Alannah Cooper, a senior lecturer at Murdoch University, with help from colleagues at the Royal Perth Bently Group, University of Western Australia and Curtin University.
They implemented and evaluated – using both qualitative and quantitative data – regular peer support sessions, which were attended by mental health nurses during their workday.
Around 25 mental health nurses attended 16 peer-group sessions facilitated by a hospital wellbeing service over a nine-month period. Researchers carried out interviews and surveys at three points.
Initially, up to seven participants were allocated to a specific group, but, following feedback, the model was subsequently modified to allow nurses the flexibility to attend any session.
The 60-minute sessions were run by two facilitators. Content explored in the sessions included self-awareness, burnout, resilience, personal core values, team formation and team building.
During the peer groups, the facilitators encouraged deep listening and reflection, pointed out responses to help the storyteller, and encouraged self-reflection and insight in each participant.
By the end of the intervention, more favourable wellbeing scores were significantly associated with higher attendance levels at the sessions, according to the researchers.
They acknowledged that their study was limited to a small group of mental health nurses at one hospital in Perth, which may affect the generalisability of the findings to other settings.
But Dr Cooper said feedback from study participants demonstrated that the peer groups promoted social support in the workplace, a known attribute of nurse resilience and wellbeing.
“The demanding nature of mental health nurse work can lead to stressors that negatively impact psychological health and contribute to nurse retention within the profession,” she said.
“Despite wide recognition of these challenges, there hasn’t previously been much research about how external factors can help foster nurse wellbeing,” she noted.
“We found that by introducing the peer group support sessions, nurses had a dedicated time to come together, and this fostered connection and opportunities to share experiences.
“This in turn made participants feel valued and heard, which is essential to enabling nurses to practice effectively.”
She added: “It’s particularly important in the context of the isolation that mental health nurses can feel in their work.”
Dr Cooper highlighted that participants widely viewed the intervention as beneficial and expressed a desire for continued peer group sessions in the future.
However, while the intervention was widely viewed as beneficial, underlying issues with workplace conditions were a barrier to attendance for some nurses.
Dr Cooper said: “Modifications during the intervention period to make attendance flexible boosted participation and allowed for the unpredictable nature of the clinical environment.
“The importance of supportive nurse managers in facilitating attendance was also highlighted, emphasising the key role nurse managers can have in supporting nurse wellbeing and retention.
“It would be ideal for issues with workplace conditions that prevent attendance to be addressed, to support our mental health nurses,” she noted.
