Building therapeutic relationships with mental health clients in primary care settings : a literature review
Dinga, Bo; Karvinen, Outi (2008)
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2008
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-200811284166
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-200811284166
Tiivistelmä
The focus of mental health care has changed dramatically in the past few decades. More and more mental health clients are being treated outside of the clinical setting. Nurses working in primary care often feel that they lack skills necessary in the cooperative management of these clients' illnesses.
The purpose of this paper was to review the literature of multiple empirical research articles to describe what a nurse-client therapeutic relationship entails, and how nurses and other healthcare workers can develop these relationships within the primary care setting. The aim of this literature review was to outline the means and ways to build and maintain therapeutic nurse-client relationships and suggest ways of implementing these methods. These concepts were derived from mental health care contexts and adapted to be beneficial to the primary healthcare setting.
The literature review was implemented as an electronic database search. Databases that were used for the literature search were Your Journals @ Ovid, CINAHL and OVID Medline. The final number of relevant articles found through the electronic database search was nine. Two more studies were discovered in the references section of these articles, giving a total of eleven scientific studies that form the basis of this literature review. The data analysis process was deductive and included categorization of the emergent themes using Peplau's (1988) interpersonal theory and the phases of the nurse-client relationship as a framework. Trust and communication, with the subthemes of empathy, authenticity, listening and time, advocacy, continuity and empowerment were the themes that persistently arose from the research material. The wishes and needs in a working nurse-client relationship were expressed explicitly, and the ways and methods of building and maintaining a satisfying and therapeutic connection were described by both the nurses and the clients.
The framework of Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relationships and the stages of the nurse-client relationship could be seen in the data collected for the literature review, and links to the theory could be drawn from it. On a small scale, this review strengthened the idea of the therapeutic relationship being at the core of care and that Peplau’s theory is still relevant, even if the terminology and focus of care have changed.
The purpose of this paper was to review the literature of multiple empirical research articles to describe what a nurse-client therapeutic relationship entails, and how nurses and other healthcare workers can develop these relationships within the primary care setting. The aim of this literature review was to outline the means and ways to build and maintain therapeutic nurse-client relationships and suggest ways of implementing these methods. These concepts were derived from mental health care contexts and adapted to be beneficial to the primary healthcare setting.
The literature review was implemented as an electronic database search. Databases that were used for the literature search were Your Journals @ Ovid, CINAHL and OVID Medline. The final number of relevant articles found through the electronic database search was nine. Two more studies were discovered in the references section of these articles, giving a total of eleven scientific studies that form the basis of this literature review. The data analysis process was deductive and included categorization of the emergent themes using Peplau's (1988) interpersonal theory and the phases of the nurse-client relationship as a framework. Trust and communication, with the subthemes of empathy, authenticity, listening and time, advocacy, continuity and empowerment were the themes that persistently arose from the research material. The wishes and needs in a working nurse-client relationship were expressed explicitly, and the ways and methods of building and maintaining a satisfying and therapeutic connection were described by both the nurses and the clients.
The framework of Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relationships and the stages of the nurse-client relationship could be seen in the data collected for the literature review, and links to the theory could be drawn from it. On a small scale, this review strengthened the idea of the therapeutic relationship being at the core of care and that Peplau’s theory is still relevant, even if the terminology and focus of care have changed.