Page 153 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

c h a p t e r e l e v e n

From Carative FaCtor 7: Promotion of
Interpersonal Teaching and Learning
to Caritas ProCess 7: Engage in Genuine Teaching-Learning
Experience That Attends to Unity of Being and Subjective Meaning—
Attempting to Stay Within the Other’s Frame of Reference

Nurses have long been clear about a teaching role, even though it often
does not receive attention or systematic follow-through. Moreover,
the intersubjective, relational aspect of the process is often not made
explicit. For example, even though teaching and the imparting of health
information, self-caring approaches, and so forth are mainstream, the
dialectic, transpersonal aspects of teaching-learning and the impor-
tance of the caring relationship as context are often overlooked.
Learning is more than receiving information, facts, or data. It
involves a meaningful, trusting relationship that is intersubjective; the
nature of the relationship as well as the form and context of teaching
affects the process. There is an honoring of the whole person. The
content as well as the readiness of the patient to receive the informa-
tion are critical variables. The meaning the content has for the per-
son—intellectually, symbolically, and culturally as well as literally—

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