This thesis explored two areas important to professionals working within the National Health Service (NHS): working under special measures, and interventions to manage occupational stress and burnout.
A systematic literature review with a narrative synthesis explored workplace interventions designed to reduce or prevent occupational stress or burnout for NHS staff. Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria of the systematic search and were narratively reviewed. Three overarching categories of mixture of intervention types were identified which included nine studies examining ‘individual support’ interventions, four studies examining ‘individual support interventions’ and five studies looking at ‘organisational and team-based interventions’. The review identified a minimal number of interventions which significantly reduced or prevented burnout in NHS staff, with none evidencing long term effectiveness. Areas for further research into interventions are suggested and recommendations made for managing this within the unique context of the NHS.
The second paper shows the results of an empirical study, which utilised a qualitative approach to explore Inpatient Mental Health (IMH) nurses’ perspectives on how special measures has impacted on their experience of working in an organisation in special measures. The principles of Thematic Analysis (TA) directed the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with ten IMH nurses. The analysis produced a singular main theme showing the confusion of special measures process, which influenced the three key themes with related sub themes. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.
The final paper examines the theoretical and clinical implications of the first two papers, as well as providing personal reflections of the main author’s experience of conducting this research.