A qualitative study exploring how adult registered general nurses understand, access and practice self-care.

Abstract

Background: There is renewed interest in the idea and practice of self-care to improve people's health, wellness, and well-being, as well as mitigating financial constraints with rising needs for social and healthcare systems throughout the United Kingdom (UK). The lack of clarity on the precise nature and complete scope of self-care, with a lack of a universal and widely recognised framework that might assist the conceptualisation and research of self-care in its entirety, in all situations and from many viewpoints, has been a continuing issue. This study intends to understand how registered adult general nurses practice self-care. Additionally, it seeks to bridge gaps in the literature on self-care for registered adult nurses in the UK and acquire knowledge to inform local Trust and Nursing Policy to support nurses' mental health and well-being.

Methods: A qualitative technique was adopted for this investigation. Participants were interviewed using MS Teams during semi-structured interviews. With the participant’s consent, the interviews were recorded and transcribed. To find, analyse, and report patterns in the data, thematic analysis was used. The investigators’ Facebook social media accounts were used to recruit participants. Each participant had to be an adult general registered nurse, which required them to be actively engaged in nursing practice to remain on the Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) register in the UK. Nine people participated in this study.

Results: The concept of self-care was understood in some way by every participant. Even though participants identified self-care as a practice for both physical and mental health, most individuals indicated that self-care activities in which they practised would primarily promote mental wellness while having minimal impact on their physical health. Participants described lack of time in the day and spending their spare time caring for their families and doing household chores as the main obstacles to practising self-care.

Conclusion: It was clear that the participants did not consistently practise self-care; they did so only when they had free time or felt emotionally overwhelmed. Self-care was not seen as a priority or a preventative measure.