Family-Nurse Relationships: Core Assumptions and Clinical Implications

Abstract

Five core assumptions relating to the family-nurse relationship are presented. Nurses and families each bring strengths and resources to the relationship and have specialized expertise in maintaining health and managing health problems. Reciprocity in the relationship is emphasized, with the relationship characterized as nonhierarchical. Feedback processes are described as they simultaneously occur at several different relationship levels among nursesfamilies, and other systems. Clinical implications of the five core assumptions are discussed. Questions are provided for the nurse to use when reflecting on her own relationship with thefamily and when interviewing the family about her relationship with them.

The first pelvic examination

“…In this way the examiner turned the PE into a cooperative situation where both participants' contributions were valued, and where a shared process of decision-making was established [19]. The power balance in the PE situation is then shifted: the examiner's role changes from being a medical expert to becoming a resource at the women's disposal [18].…”

Families' Importance in Nursing Care

“…Findings from Hallgrimsdottir (2000), Jansson et al (2001), Astedt-Kurki et al (2001a, 2001b, Berterö (2002), and Wright (2002) found that nurses consider it important to establish a good relationship with the family. However, nurses hold constraining and facilitative beliefs about including families in nursing care (Benzein, Johansson, & Saveman, 2004;Hertzberg et al, 2003;Leahey & Harper-Jaques, 1996).…”

Pratique basée sur la théorie des soins de fin de vie aux patients cancéreux : une exploration du modèle de soins infirmiers McGill

“…Les infirmières prodiguant des soins aux familles dont un membre est en phase terminale oeuvrent ainsi dans un paysage aux multiples vérités et réalités; il n'y tout simplement pas une seule bonne façon de considérer un problème ou une situation donné(e) (Leahey & Harper-Jaques, 1996). La perspective tirée du modèle McGill appuie utilement les soins infirmiers dans ce contexte puisqu'elle accorde la priorité au développement de partenariats de prestation de soins avec les membres de la famille.…”