Mental Health Nurses’ Experience of Trauma: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 2025 Nov 15. doi: 10.1111/jpm.70060. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Mental health nurses can experience trauma in their personal and work lives; however there is no prior qualitative research describing these experiences.

AIM: Describe mental health nurses’ experience of potentially traumatic events in their personal and professional lives.

METHOD: Qualitative descriptive study of mental health nurses describing traumatic events in a survey. Content analysis conducted using Foli’s trauma framework.

RESULTS: Eighty-two mental health nurses described potentially traumatic events. Most (65%) were personal events, including deaths and suicides of family members, domestic and family violence, and adverse childhood experiences. Workplace events included violence, consumer and colleague deaths, second-victim trauma, and trauma from insufficient workplace resources.

DISCUSSION: Due to their trauma experiences, nurses are at risk of poorer psychological health and re-traumatisation through their work.

LIMITATIONS: Findings are limited to one group of mental health nurses in one setting.

IMPLICATIONS: Organisations need to place nurses and other staff at the centre of approaches for addressing trauma, and support nurses’ trauma-informed self-care.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Organisations have a duty of care to staff. Organisation-wide trauma-informed approaches in mental health services are recommended, that are staff-centred as well as consumer-centred. Continued efforts to reduce avoidable sources of trauma at work, such as violence and lack of workplace resources, are needed.

PMID:41239853 | DOI:10.1111/jpm.70060