Abstract
This dissertation is a qualitative study with seven new graduate nurses who were enrolled on the New Entry to Specialist Practice in Mental Health and Addiction programme in New Zealand. The aims of this study were to explore how nursing education impacts on the decision to work in mental health and the transition into practice. The background context for this study is the global nursing recruitment and retention problem (Hooper, Browne & O'Brien, 2016) and the challenging socio-political environment of the New Zealand mental health system (Cassie, 2018a; Elliott, 2017). Mental health nursing has historically struggled to attract and retain qualified staff (Happell, 1999; Happell & Gaskin, 2013; Jansen & Venter, 2015). Nursing education tends to favour medical and surgical nursing and critics argue that nursing education does not adequately prepare nurses to work in the mental health field (Happell, McAllister & Gaskin, 2014).
Data were collected using individual semi structured interviews which were conducted, recorded and transcribed by the author. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data which generated three major themes, eleven subthemes and three smaller subthemes. The first major theme was Thrown in at the Deep End relating to most participants' strong feelings that they had not been adequately prepared for post registration nursing practice. The five subthemes included inadequate education, new graduate challenges, feeling unprepared, the mental health system and stigma. The second major theme that emerged was Feeling Supported and the three subthemes comprised of quality education, quality placements and healthy transitions. The final major theme was The Decision to Work in Mental Health and this related to the range and variety of influences on the participants career decisions. This theme contains three subthemes: wider nursing issues, life experiences and nursing education, which also incorporated three smaller subthemes: recovery principles, recruitment strategies and reducing stigma.
It is concluded that the comprehensive nursing education system does not offer satisfactory preparation for nurses who choose to work in mental health. The central issue is that new graduates working in mental health feel they have been thrown in at the deep end and strategies to improve this situation are explored and recommendations made.