Issues Related to Patient Participation in Psychiatric Hospital Care—An Integrative Literature Review of Patient Safety Research

ABSTRACT

Aim

Explore how previous patient safety research has described issues related to patient participation in psychiatric hospital care.

Design

Integrated literature review.

Methods

The literature review was conducted according to Cooper's framework with the following five-step protocol: problem identification, a literature search, data evaluation, data analysis, and the presentation of results.

Data Sources

CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus databases, years 2005–2023. After quality appraisal, a total of 62 articles were reviewed.

Results

Three main categories related to patient participation in psychiatric hospital care were identified: communication (having information, being heard, therapeutic relationships and interaction quality), decision-making (treatment planning, treatment decisions, activities and working on behalf of patients) and restrictive measures (setting limits, exercising power, balancing patient autonomy and safety).

Conclusion

Psychiatric hospital care nursing staff continuously balance patients' autonomy, self-determination, and safety, taking into account their well-being and issues of responsibility. Wider use of positive risk-taking is needed to increase patient participation and safety in psychiatric hospital care.

Implications for the Profession and Patient Care

Nursing staff should create favourable facilities for patient participation, foster an atmosphere of trust, respect, and encouragement, provide patients individual time to improve patient safety and recognise that they can exert power over patients due to constantly balancing patient autonomy and safety.

Reporting Method

PRISMA guidelines.

Patient or Public Contribution

No patient or public contribution.