Risk of role confusion for nurse researchers: a reflective account

For her PhD, a mental health nurse with 20 years’ experience conducted research to explore the experiences of service users undergoing crisis resolution home treatment (an approach used by mental health services for people who are going through a severe mental health crisis). Reflecting on her work during and after the research, she identified tensions between her roles as nurse and as researcher, and realised that there had been role confusion and overlap. In this article, she discusses the blurring of boundaries between clinical practice and research, and how to avoid this, preserve academic rigour and protect vulnerable research participants.