Nurses’ experiences of professional boundaries in mental health care: A multisite qualitative study using source triangulation

Abstract

Professional boundaries are necessary to establish and maintain therapeutic relationships between patients and healthcare professionals. The purpose of the study was to explore nurses’ perceptions of and experiences with being professional, personal, and private in nurse-patient relationships in mental health care. The study was a qualitative multisite study with source triangulation. Sixteen nurses who worked in mental health care partook in participant observation, individual interviews and focus group interviews. The study’s results are presented in three papers reporting that the nurses perceived being professional, personal, and private as interconnected and depending on particular nurse-patient relationships situated in specific contexts. Based on these results, the discussion questions whether professional boundaries are a personal responsibility, and examines the power and predicaments of a personal approach. The study supports and adds to earlier research from different disciplines that acknowledges diverse reasons for self-disclosure, the many dilemmas of dual relationships and the emphasis on the importance of context in decisions related to professional boundaries.