Business Commons^™

Therapeutic Communication Skills For Nurses Working With People Living With Hiv, Charaine Ferguson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Internalized stigma experienced by people living with HIV (PLWH) has been associated with numerous untoward health outcomes. Nurses' and healthcare professionals’ ability to effectively communicate can significantly affect the experience of stigma in PLWH. The practice-focused question was whether an interactive educational project could improve the knowledge and intent to use collective communication skills in nurses. This project uses concepts from Peplau's interpersonal relationship theory, principles of therapeutic communication, and unconscious bias. Online training content included patient testimonials related to stigma, discussions of unconscious bias by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Mayo Clinic professionals, review of Harvard University’s Implicit …