Background

A new understanding of the concept of health is needed to meet the goal of mental health nursing, which besides reducing disease is to strengthen the patient’s health.

Aim

To describe perceptions of the concept of health among nurses working in mental health services.

Methods

The present study had a descriptive qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach. Phenomenography has been developed over the last 25 years based on research findings in the area of learning within higher education, and distinguishes between the actual state of something and how it is perceived. Perceptions often represent something that is implicit, and barely can be verbalized because it has not previously been reflected upon even though it fosters most actions of the individual. Twelve Swedish nurses working in mental health services were interviewed and data were analysed with a phenomenographic approach. The approach was chosen to ascertain the qualitative variations in the participants’ perceptions of the concept of health.

Results

The nurses expressed ten perceptions, which constituted three description categories: autonomy, process and participation. The result showed that health explicitly was described as more than absence of disease. Simultaneously perceptions were expressed indicating that health was perceived as absence of disease, which implies that the concept is not sufficiently defined.

Conclusions

The result emphasizes the need to clarify the concept of health if it is to be used as a goal in mental health nursing and to integrate a clarified definition of health at all hierarchical levels in mental health services.