What patients with pervasive developmental disorders think of and expect from nurses

Doctoral Corse, Division of Health Science, Kanazawa University * Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University Introduction The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, Text Revision classifies pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) into autistic disorder, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified. The 2012 survey of public elementary and junior high school students conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has shown that the prevalence of PDD among elementary and junior high school students enrolled in regular classes is approximately 1.1%. Kawamura et al. also reported that the incidence of PDD among children aged 6–8 years in Toyota City, Japan was 1.8%, whereas the prevalence of PDD among children aged 7–12 years was 2.6% in Korea. These studies clearly show that PDD is not a rare disorder. Until recently, the position of individuals with developmental disorders within the Japanese legal system was not defined, and there were no laws with the purpose of supporting such individuals. As a result, individuals with developmental disorders were placed in the zone between the legal systems for individuals with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities or those with mental disorders, making it difficult to provide adequate support to them. The Act on Support for Persons with Development Disorders finally went into effect in 2005. With this Act, it became possible to support the development of preschool and school children with developmental disorders through into adulthood (to include career development and community-based living support) as well as their Abstract This study was performed to determine the views and expectations of patients with pervasive developmental disorders(PDD) regarding nurses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 patients with PDD. Five categories were extracted based on quantitative descriptive analysis of the data: people whose presence is insignificant; people who do not understand me; people who bring a sense of relief; people who provide support; and an expectation of understanding. While patients had negative thoughts regarding nurses as insignificant and as people who did not understand them, they also associated nurses positively with relief and support, revealing their ambivalent views regarding nurses. Furthermore, patients had an expectation of being understood by nurses. These findings suggest that it is important for nurses to understand the hardships experienced by PDD patients and build relationships with them through communication and nursing care. Using these newly built relationships taking their characteristics into account, nurses should provide advice to patients, thereby encouraging them to express their needs and hopes for the future. As PDD patients may make few expressions, it is necessary to convey what the patients would like to say and what they are thinking to family members and physicians.