Exploring coping mechanisms of nurses against burnout in a psychiatric hospital in Botswana

Abstract

Background: Nurses are in the forefront of the health care force and nursing is one of the most draining occupations causing emotional and physical exhaustion. Literature has shown that nurses working in a psychiatric hospital experience burnout more than those working in general hospitals. Even though nurses experience burnout in the workplace, they use different mechanisms to cope to improve nursing care. The study aims at exploring how they cope with burnout in the workplace. Objective: To explore and describe the coping mechanisms that nurses use to improve coping with burnout in a psychiatric hospital in Botswana. Setting and Sampling: Purposive sampling selected 10 nurses who were working in a certain psychiatric hospital in Botswana. Methods: The study used a qualitative research design with explorative and descriptive approaches. Data collection was conducted by telephone due to the Covid-19 restrictions and a semi-structured guiding tool was utilised. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Four main themes emerged from the study namely, coping with burnout in a psychiatric hospital, factors contributing to burnout among nurses, manifestations of burnout and suggestions to improve burnout. Some of the coping sub-themes were debriefing with friends and colleagues, engaging in activities outside work and lastly playing board games with patients. Conclusion: The study has shown that nurses use different coping mechanisms to deal with burnout including social support mechanisms.