Background: Trustee is an actor who a specialist nurse in psychiatry may cooperate within the care of people with mental disabilities. Trustee works as a deputy to a person who himself cannot protect their own interests. Mental disability is a reason why trustee is held by the Swedish courts. There are no new measurements of how many people's with mental disabili-ties that have a trustee, but research shows that this insert is a common occurrence for these people. No previous research has been found which describe trustee's impact on the nursing care of people with mental disabilities.

Aim:

The aim of this study was to describe the specialist nurse in psychiatry experiences of a trustee in the care of people with mental disabilities in psychiatric outpatients.

Method:

The study was based on interviews with 10 specialist nurse in psychiatry, working in psychiatric outpatient. A qualitative content analysis was conducted.

Results:

In the present study the specialist nurse in psychiatry describe that trustee can be promoting in the care of people with mental disabilities. The nurses described that the trustee was a person who they could cooperate with and who also guarded the patient´s rights. Trus-tees could also be aggravating to the care when the cooperation was hampered by various fac-tors such as the trustee's personality and the patient opposed the insert.

Conclusion:

Trustee has an impact on the care of people with mental disabilities. There are opportunities for cooperation between the specialist nurse in psychiatry and the trustee that can promote a more full care of people with mental disabilities.