The present study aimed to clarify the effectiveness of a training program to improve recovery orientation for nurses working in psychiatric wards.

Forty-four nurses participated in the training program, and completed self-reported questionnaires both pre-and post-training. Then, their knowledge about and attitudes toward the concept of recovery, and degrees of strength-focused approach were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Our results indicate that the training program led to a further understanding of recovery, and improved recovery orientation. The findings also showed that through engaging in dialogue to gain an understanding of the patient’s strength, the concept of recovery is understood as knowledge, which was deepened through practical experience. Furthermore, changes in the attitudes of the nurses regarding support were revealed. They started to believe in their patients’ potential and to respect the will of the patients.

However, recovery-orientation may stagnate depending on the difficulties encountered in clinical practice. Therefore, there is a continuous need for systems and opportunities to follow up on difficulties regarding a recovery-orientation approach.

Purpose: Group acceptance and commitment therapy (G-ACT) was conducted involving 9 psychiatric day care patients (3 in each group), and its effect on personal recovery was examined.

Methods: G-ACT was implemented with four program sessions and two follow-up sessions. We hypothesized that G-ACT would promote personal recovery and examined the effects of individualized intervention using a single case design. As effect indicators, the frequency of occurrence of value-based actions and Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery (QPR) were used.

Results: A significant increase in the frequency of occurrence of value-based actions was observed in 5 out of the 9 patients (Tau = 0.44–0.57, p < .05). With regard to QPR, a significant increase in the score was observed in 6 out of the 9 patients (Tau = 0.55–0.75, p < .05). Three patients who did not show a significant difference in the QPR score did not exhibit a significant increase regarding value-based actions with a small effect size (Tau = 0.15–0.17).

Conclusion: Five patients whose frequency of occurrence of value-based actions increased by G-ACT also showed an increase in the QPR score, indicating that G-ACT promotes personal recovery. In the future, it will be necessary to analyze situational factors of subjects with small effect sizes and further examine methods of intervention.

Personal medicine, as Deegan described, is a non-pharmaceutical self-care activity which is being used to provide support overseas. Therefore, semi-structured interviews of 16 community-dwelling individuals with schizophrenia were conducted and analyzed. 184 codes were extracted as a result of content analysis by Graneheim, & Lundman, and the following were identified: [Lifestyles suited to oneself], [Media-related activities], [Purposeful outings], [Relying on others and pets], and [Improving on the perception of mental symptoms and thoughts].

The basis of Personal Medicine was a lifestyle tailored to the individual, with a ‘sense’ of effectiveness through ‘independent’ choice and utilization. The importance of focusing on Personal Medicine for the stable community life of people with schizophrenia was suggested.

Objective: To elucidate the process by which nursing students’ embeddedness of the Strengths Model in the context of mental health nursing practicums.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 students who took part in practical training that involved using the Strengths Mapping Sheet. Analysis was performed based on the Grounded Theory Approach.

Results: Students focused on strengths and deploying those strengths in their nursing practicums. Through various processes, they arrived either at the resolution of risks and problems or supporting patients’ dreams and desires. In the process that led students toward supporting patients’ dreams and desires, the “feasibility of patients’ dreams” emerged as the core concept. Additionally, students’ own experience of recognizing their strengths influenced the process that led to understanding the “feasibility of patients’ dreams.”

Discussion: Use of the Strengths Mapping Sheet together with educators’ pedagogical engagement based on the Strengths Model suggested the potential to cultivate healthcare professionals who promote patient understanding and recovery through a “people come first” approach.

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the current status and challenges of nursing care for drug-dependent patients as perceived by nurses in psychiatric hospitals that do not have specialized wards for addiction treatment.

METHOD: Based on semi-structured interviews with 14 nurses, we conducted a qualitative descriptive study using the KJ method. This method reconstructs information regarding participants’ perceptions and experiences derived from interviews as data, and qualitatively and descriptively structure the data itself.

RESULTS and DISCUSSION: Insights into the essence of how nurses face patients with drug dependence was revealed. Nurses respected the complex feelings and the individuality of patients with drug dependence, and they viewed them as patients—individuals receiving nursing care—trying to regain autonomy. Nurses were highly aware of the difficulties and unique challenges associated with caring for patients with drug dependence who have to deal with the withdrawal symptoms of drug abstinence combined with symptoms of cravings while being unable to express their pain or their difficulties in their lives. Issues such as the need to continue supporting discharged drug-dependent patients through the use of multifaceted interprofessional networks, the need for support that includes long-term educational considerations for addressing the complicated recovery process, and cooperation with the justice system, were identified.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between psychiatric nurses’ assertiveness and psychiatric nursing care skills.

[Method] I posted a questionnaire survey to 500 psychiatric nurses working in five institutions affiliated with the Japan Psychiatric Hospitals Association in Z Prefecture. The questionnaires comprised questions on basic attributes: 30 question items from the J-RAS, and 37 question items on psychiatric care skills.

[Results] I analyzed 169 effective responses (response rate: 75%). The mean ± SD assertiveness value was –7.03 ± 21.48, which was within the range of values targeted in assertiveness training. Regarding the relationship between psychiatric nursing skills and assertiveness, I performed a multiple regression analysis using basic attributes and assertiveness subscale scores as independent variables, and psychiatric nursing skills score as the dependent variable. Number of years in psychiatric nursing practical training (β = .59, p < .001) and “assertiveness at work” (β = .28, p = .05) exhibited positive standardizing coefficients (adjusted r2 = .33).

[Conclusion] The results revealed that psychiatric nursing skills were positively correlated with number of years in psychiatric nursing practical training and assertiveness at work.