Perceptions of the concept of health among patients in mental health nursing.

Health has been a central concept in nursing science since the 18th century but the holistic concept of health that includes both the body and the soul, still has to be clarified. The concept of health is often unclear and represents an unreachable ideal state that can be hard to use as a realistic goal in nursing care. The aim of this study was to describe how the patient perceives the concept of health in mental health nursing. Twelve patients with experience of mental health nursing were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach. The patients described nine different perceptions that were divided into three descriptive categories: autonomy, meaningfulness, and community. All of these are important to achieve health. There is ambiguity about the possibility to influence the concept of health. Health is described, on the one, hand as a prerequisite to experiencing freedom and finding meaning in life and, on the other hand, it is believed that the search for meaning and the courage to fight and try in spite of the disease is what leads to health. The patients' descriptions are mostly about things that they need in the present time to achieve health, but health as a process with growth and potential for development does not appear that clearly. One conclusion is that mental health nursing must deliver a more process-focused nursing care where the concept of health is visibly used as a goal for all nursing interventions.