Background: It is important that mental health nurses meet the safety, security and care needs of persons suffering\nfrom psychotic illness to enhance these persons� likelihood of feeling better during their time in acute psychiatric\nwards. Certain persons in care describe nurses� mental health care as positive, whereas others report negative\nexperiences and express a desire for improvements. There is limited research on how persons with psychotic\nillness experience nurses� mental health care acts and how such acts help these persons feel better. Therefore,\nthe aim of this study was to explore, describe and understand how the mental health nurses in acute psychiatric\nwards provide care that helps persons who experienced psychotic illness to feel better, as narrated by these persons.\nMethod: This study had a qualitative design; 12 persons participated in qualitative interviews. The interviews were\ntranscribed, content analysed and interpreted using Martin Buber�s concept of confirmation.\nResults: The results of this study show three categories of confirming mental health care that describe what helped\nthe participants to feel better step-by-step: first, being confirmed as a person experiencing psychotic illness in need\nof endurance; second, being confirmed as a person experiencing psychotic illness in need of decreased psychotic\nsymptoms; and third, being confirmed as a person experiencing psychotic illness in need of support in daily life. The\nunderlying meaning of the categories and of subcategories were interpreted and formulated as the theme; confirming\nmental health care to persons experiencing psychotic illness.\nConclusion: Confirming mental health care acts seem to help persons to feel better in a step-wise manner during\npsychotic illness. Nurses� openness and sensitivity to the changing care needs of persons who suffer from psychotic\nillness create moments of confirmation within caring acts that concretely help the persons to feel better and that may\nenhance their health. The results show the importance of taking the experiential knowledge of persons who have\nexperienced psychotic illness seriously to develop and increase the quality of mental health care in acute psychiatric\nwards.
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