Mental Health Nurses' Experiences of Non-Disclosure within Individual Clinical Supervision

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of inpatient mental health nurses’ use of nondisclosure within their individual clinical supervision. Nondisclosure was defined as the intentional withholding of information for example, personal, professional or relational by a supervisee or supervisor within clinical supervision. As this is the first time the phenomenon of nondisclosure has been looked for within nursing clinical supervision, a qualitative design was utilised in order to gain a rich description. Experiences were collected from 10 participants via semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis was carried out on the data. The analysis indicated that participants did utilise nondisclosure and five main themes were identified: expected to be a superhuman, you work with them more than your family, a poorly defined space, relationally unsafe, and strategies to stay safe. These themes operated on an individual level, structural level and cultural level. The findings point to the importance of creating a regular and structured space, that is clearly defined and understood by both supervisee and supervisor, and one that feels predictable and safe. This finding was is in line with existing research in therapeutic supervision. Previously unreported findings included the internalised belief that nurses need to be ‘superhuman’ and the important interactions of the team in an environment that requires cooperation to be effective. These interacted with the other findings to create an environment that facilitated nondisclosure.