Page 297 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

264 n InTeRPeRSonaL CoMMUnICaTIon

There are commonalities in nurses’ rea- identified to enhance international collabo-
sons for leaving their countries and seeking ration and provide nurses with shared goals.
I employment in other countries or regions. one important framework for global
nurses emigrate to seek better job opportu- nursing research are the eight United
nities, to secure a better future for their chil- nations Millennium Development Goals to
dren, to improve their skills, and to complete be achieved by 2015 (United nations, 2000).
their graduate education. according to the Institute of Medicine’s
other research areas that received the report on the U.S. Commitment to Global
attention of global nurses were the car- Health (Institute of Medicine, 2009) there are
ing practices of nurses and the relationship areas for action that warrant careful review in
between nurses’ cultural heritage and lan- directing nursing scholarship. These include
guage and patients’ cultural heritage and scaling-up interventions to achieve health
their primary language of communication. gains, addressing health problems endemic
There is beginning evidence that nurses of to the global poor, investing in developing
multicultural heritage who speak more than the capacity of global partners, and devel-
one language tend to provide more culturally oping models for engaging in respectful
competent care. Research focused on nurs- partnerships.
ing theories tends to draw on communities
of scholars from different countries. Afaf Ibrahim Meleis
other areas of comparative and collab-
orative research were focused on women’s
health and quality of life. Questions about
women’s health were considered within InterPersonal
a sociopolitical context, with attention to communIcatIon:
health and health care in the overall develop-
ment of women through better options, more nurse–PatIent
education, and higher status. other research
examples were in ethical and clinical decision
making, pain management, and the manage- Interpersonal communication refers to a
ment of the care of the elderly. function of language and is one of the most
Future international research requires important skill sets in nursing practice. It
the development of culturally competent is what nurses’ use with both spoken and
methods, analysis of ethical issues in con- written words in the formation and main-
ducting collaborative international research, tenance of the therapeutic relationship with
development of guidelines for international patients. It is central to the work of a profes-
collaboration, and a framework for deci- sion whose service outcomes depend on the
sions related to data ownership, author- skillful blending of interpersonal and clini-
ship, and culturally sensitive rules for data cal expertise, as effective delivery of health
dissemination. care depends to a great extent on the quality
The International Council of nursing, of communication between health care pro-
in collaboration with the U.S. Institute for viders and their patients. Interpersonal com-
nursing Research, developed a list of pri- munication encompasses both verbal and
orities for international research, which nonverbal aspects of the interaction within
addressed the urgency for preparing the context of the therapeutic relationship.
researchers internationally and providing Interpersonal communication is distinct
international strategies to support nursing from therapeutic communication, and the
research. a future direction for priorities two terms should not be used interchange-
in substantive research questions has to be ably because they are not synonymous.