Page 299 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

266 n InTeRPeRSonaL CoMMUnICaTIon

strategies for improving nursing student’s of a nursing theory (Sampaio, aquino, de
interpersonal communication skills were also araujo, & Galvao, 2008).
I explored without any reference to interper- More explicit research connecting nurses
sonal models of practice as a guiding factor and how nurses choose to respond to patients
(Jones, 2007). Interpersonal communications from a social processing and an interpersonal
problems in the emergency room have also nursing model (orlando) have been investi-
been studied. The relationship to interper- gated (Sheldon & ellington, 2008).
sonal models of practice was inferred but not The application of interpersonal com-
explicitly correlated (Kelly, 2005). munication as structured within a nursing
The importance of this correlation has theoretical paradigm is an important area
been previously documented. In her obser- for future research because the concepts of
vation of nurse–patient interactions, Peplau interpersonal communication and thera-
discovered that nurses who practiced from peutic relationships are inherently linked.
an interpersonal model reported that as Interpersonal communication and Peplau’s
they attended to what they were feeling dur- model is currently being explored as applied
ing the evolution of the relationship, they to cyber-nursing and has been found to still
become aware of empathic observations that be relevant (Hrabe, 2005).
drove the interpersonal conversation into Discoveries in knowledge about the
important areas that the patient may not presumed mechanisms behind the effects
have even noticed or talked about (o’Toole & of communication will occur only when
Welt, 1989). theory-driven questions and hypotheses are
Between 2005 and 2010, approximately systematically asked and tested. In addition
139 research articles appeared in a litera- to being studied as a process, communica-
ture review of therapeutic communications tion may serve as an outcome, a predictor, a
in nursing (CInaHL, 2010). Few (~3.5%) are mediator of a process, or a moderator of rela-
devoted to interpersonal communication as tionships among other variables. When these
being driven by the theoretical structure of issues begin to be addressed, the profession
the interpersonal relationship specifically. will be better able to determine how the find-
Within the small percentage studying this ings on nurse–patient communication and
correlate was the navigation of orem’s self- interpersonal relations research can be used
care theory and the relevance of using inter- to affect the clinical and educational aspects
personal communication to facilitate the of nursing.
process in ostomy patients. although not
an interpersonal theory per se, it neverthe- Marjorie Thomas Lawson
less tied interpersonal prompts to concepts Updated by Jeffrey Schwab Jones