Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mental Health Patients’ Experiences Of Being Misunderstood, Mona Shattell, Laura Gaillard, Sandra Thomas

Mona Shattell

Background: Mental health patients describe “being understood” as an experience that evokes feelings of importance, worthiness, and empowerment. However, the experience of “being misunderstood” is more prevalent in patients’ relationships with health care providers. Negative consequences such as vulnerability, dehumanization, and frustration reveal that being misunderstood has the potential to damage or destroy therapeutic relationships. Objective: The purpose of this secondary analysis was to examine mental health patients’ experiences of being misunderstood. Study Design: Data consisted of transcripts from 20 interviews with community-dwelling adults with mental illness, which were analyzed using an existential phenomenological approach. Results: Four figural themes expressed …

You Catch More Flies With Honey: But Patients Shouldn’T Have To Manipulate Nurses To Receive Good Care, Mona Shattell

Mona Shattell

No abstract provided.

“Nurse Bait:” Strategies Hospitalized Patients Use To Entice Nurses Within The Context Of The Nurse-Patient Relationship, Mona Shattell

Mona Shattell

Patients on medical-surgical and psychiatric inpatient units long for more and deeper connections with nurses. Patients’ dependence on the nursing staff, as well as their perceived powerlessness, creates a situation where patients believe they have to actively find ways to seek needed nursing care. This paper will describe active strategies used by medical-surgical patients to entice nurses within the context of the nurse-patient relationship; strategies designed to mitigate vulnerability and increase interpersonal connection. Implications for nursing practice and for Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations will be presented.

Nurse-Patient Interaction: A Review Of The Literature, Mona Shattell

Mona Shattell

Aims. The aims of this paper are to review a theoretical model useful for developing nursing knowledge related to nurse–patient interaction, review the literature on nurse–patient interaction, and discuss areas for further research.

Theoretical model. Goffman’s theory of face work.

Results. Nurse–patient interaction is a central element of clinical nursing practice. This paper shows how Goffman’s model can be used as a theoretical framework for understanding nurse–patient communication.

Relevance to clinical practice. Issues such as power, the social and cultural context, and interpersonal competence are shown to be important in the quality of nurse– patient interactions and nurses need to …