Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;27(6):e12938.
doi: 10.1111/ijn.12938. Epub 2021 May 4.

Therapeutic communication within the nurse-patient relationship: A concept analysis

Wantong Xue  1   2 , Catrina Heffernan  1
Affiliations

Therapeutic communication within the nurse-patient relationship: A concept analysis

Wantong Xue et al. Int J Nurs Pract. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Aims: To explore the concept of therapeutic communication within the nurse-patient relationship, using concept analysis.

Background: Therapeutic communication is a term that is often used in the nursing and related sciences literature, and yet it is still an ambiguous concept. Concept clarification is required to support other healthcare professionals' understanding and to guide theory development and practice.

Design: A concept analysis methodology was used, as proposed by Walker and Avant.

Data sources: A systematic literature search was performed using the Cochrane database, Science Direct, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, Academic Search Complete, MEDLINE and PsycARTICLES with studies published within the last 20 years.

Review methods: The framework by Walker and Avant was adopted. The attributes, antecedents, consequences and uses of the concept were identified.

Results: The attributes were information exchange, mutual respect, engagement and managing health issues of concern to the patient. The antecedents were those related to the nurse and those related to the patient. The consequences included patient satisfaction, quicker recovery time, high-quality health care outcomes and positive nurse-patient relationship outcomes.

Conclusions: A theoretical definition of the concept was developed. The attributes, antecedents and consequences identified in this paper can be used in nursing education, research and managerial and organizational planning.

Keywords: concept analysis; nurse-patient relationship; nursing practice; therapeutic communication.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Abdolrahimi, M., Ghiyasvandian, S., Zakerimoghadam, M., & Ebadi, A. (2017a). Antecedents and consequences of therapeutic communication in Iranian nursing students: A qualitative research. Nursing Research and Practice, 2017, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4823723
    1. Abdolrahimi, M., Ghiyasvandian, S., Zakerimoghadam, M., & Ebadi, A. (2017b). Therapeutic communication in nursing students: A Walker & Avant concept analysis. Electronic Physician, 9(8), 4968-4977. https://doi.org/10.19082/4968
    1. Adistie, F., Mediani, H. S., Nurhidayah, I., & Hendrawati, S. (2018). The implementation of therapeutic communication of nurses to the patients of pediatric patients in pre-operative stage. Belitung Nursing Journal, 4(4), 356-365. https://doi.org/10.33546/bnj.439
    1. American Nurses Association. (2020). Scope and standards of practice. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/
    1. Baer, L., & Weinstein, E. (2013). Improving oncology nurses' communication skills for difficult conversations. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 17(3), E45-E51.10.1188/13.CJON.E45-E51

LinkOut - more resources