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Forming therapeutic relationships is considered important within psychiatric and mental health nursing. One way of achieving this is through social interaction when engaging in joint activities. However, introducing and using nursing interventions based on joint activities in psychiatric inpatient care has proven challenging. Since staff motivation is important, researching the meaning of engaging in joint activities from the nursing professional's point of view can provide information that is relevant in this area. This study aims to illuminate the meaning of participating in joint activities with patients as narrated by nursing professionals in psychiatric inpatient care. Narrative interviews with 14 nursing professionals with experience from psychiatric inpatient care were conducted. Data were analysed using phenomenological hermeneutics and reported following the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines. Results illuminate that engaging in joint activities means being open to a process of learning. Four themes contributed to this understanding: Struggling with uncertainty, discovering aspects of the other, unfolding paths to self-fulfilment and sharing personhood. Being open to a process of learning means being willing to face uncertainty when engaging in activities as well as being open to learning about oneself as well as the other. Through openness to this process of learning, a sharing of personhood can be achieved, where the nursing professional and the patient approach becoming two persons. Illuminating the meaning of joint activities from the nursing professionals' perspective may provide valuable insights related to introducing and using interventions focusing on joint activities.

Introduction and aim: Social interaction plays a crucial role in inpatient psychiatric care. Patient-staff interaction is vital for building trust and a sense of safety. Conversely, a lack of interaction leaves patients feeling invisible. Joint activities enhance social interaction, but their implementation poses challenges and staff commitment significantly impacts success. This study illuminates the meaning of staff engaging in joint activities with patients.

Methods and results:  This qualitative study utilized narrative interviews with nursing professionals and data was interpreted using phenomenological hermeneutics. Fourteen nursing professionals with experience from working in adult psychiatric inpatient care in different parts of Sweden participated in this study. Narrative interviews were carried out and the participants were encouraged to narrate situations where they engaged with patients in joint activities. Follow up questions focused on understanding how these situations made the participants feel and act. Phenomenological hermeneutics inspired by Ricœur and Lindseth and Norberg was used to interpret the narratives. The interpretation process consisted of three stages with the formulation of a naïve understanding, a structural analysis and finally reaching a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

Preliminary results indicate that the meaning of engaging in joint activities with patients can be seen as a process of exploring and discovering. Engaging in activities means taking chances and not always knowing what result to expect as well as having to deal with potential criticism from co-workers. On the other hand, engaging in activities means discovering new facets and aspects of the patient as well as of oneself. These aspects of oneself can mean feelings of pride and hope and gaining a better understanding of oneself. This in turn means that the nursing professionals and the patients become two persons through sharing the joint activity, rather than remaining only “staff” and “patient”.

Conclusion: The preliminary results from this study point to the dynamic process that engaging with patients in joint activities can be. This process means that despite uncertainties and criticism, new facets of both patient and nursing professional can be uncovered. This experience may mean feelings of pride, hope and a deeper self-understanding as well as a transcendence of roles. This knowledge is important when considering motivation and capacity in implementation of interaction-focused interventions.

Defining psychiatric and mental health nursing has been a challenge for decades, and it is still difficult to find a comprehensive definition. We have identified a possibility to clarify psychiatric and mental health nursing based on humanistic philosophy in a general psychiatric care context. The aim was therefore to identify and synthesize the theoretical frameworks from which psychiatric and mental health nursing models are developed. We systematically collected and evaluated articles based on Grounded Theory (GT) methodology regarding psychiatric or mental health nursing. The PRISMA statement for systematic reviews was used and the formal process of synthesis, as a three-step process of identifying first -, second - and third-order themes following the examples of Howell Major and Savin-Baden. The synthesis resulted in a model describing five core elements of psychiatric and mental health nursing: ‘professional nursing’, ‘therapeutic relationships’ and ‘honest engagement’, with time as the all-encompassing theme, including the patients’ ‘lifetime perspective’. Psychiatric and mental health nursing is a caring support towards recovery, where the patient’s lifetime perspective must be in focus during the caring process with a relationship built on an honest engagement. Time is therefore essential for psychiatric and mental health nursing. 

Nurses in psychiatric inpatient care spend less time than desired with patients and investigation of the nature of nursing in this setting is needed. This study explores how nursing activities in psychiatric inpatient wards is distributed over time, and with a time-geographic perspective show how this relates to places. Observations were used to register place, activity, and time. A constructed time-geographic chart mapped the nurses’ path which showed that nurses spent little time in places where patients are. There might be constraints that affect nursing. Nurses need to evaluate where time is spent and interventions that facilitate relationships are needed.