“It's the Little Things That Count”: The Value in Receiving Therapeutic Letters

Abstract

The focus of this qualitative study was to explore patient's perceptions of having received a therapeutic letter (TL) from a nursing student. Patient feedback contributes to student learning and is especially salient when students are trying to understand complex relationships and to deliver care that is individualized and personalized. Four themes from recipient interviews were identified, which show the influence of TLs on the student-patient relationship and the benefits of TLs to patients who receive them. Strategies to promote relationship building, such as TL writing are needed, particularly when students are required to work with patients who have long-standing psychiatric and social disabilities and find these relationships challenging. Findings are discussed in light of the value of TLs to patients and as a powerful strategy for student learning.

Listening with care: using narrative methods to cultivate nurses’ responsive relationships in a home visiting intervention with teen mothers

“…The final training session introduced PHNs to TLW, which was based on research describing the therapeutic value of letters written by professionals (Freed et al. 2010).…”

“…The final training session introduced PHNs to TLW, which was based on research describing the therapeutic value of letters written by professionals (Freed et al 2010). Therapeutic letters are typically written to individuals between clinical encounters to validate their suffering and courage; to reinforce clinical progress; and to remind them of recommendations or referrals.…”

Small things—‘It felt like love’—The experience of being deeply moved in therapy: Clients' stories of the small things that matter in therapy

“…Through the literature, the small things experience appears as small gestures (Andersson, 2016; Klevan & Ruud, 2017), apparently small acts (Borg & Kristiansen, 2004), little extras or ‘the little things that count’ (Freed, 2010; Williams et al., 2015). These are often characterised by an ‘extra‐ness’ (Ware et al., 2004), such as a ride, a joke, a simple greeting or an invitation to smoke.…”

Therapeutic letters: A qualitative study exploring their influence on the hope of parents of children receiving pediatric palliative care in Portugal

“…Along with the importance of frequent assessments, which include parental hope, it is also known that hope can and should be promoted based on the nurse-parent relationships using therapeutic letters (Bell et al, 2009;Freed et al, 2010;Moules, 2009). Therapeutic letters are literary letters describing situations and possibilities from the experiences (Moules, 2009) written by nurses to parents of children with chronic disease or parental caregivers in the context of pediatric palliative care.…”

“…Therapeutic letters are literary letters describing situations and possibilities from the experiences (Moules, 2009) written by nurses to parents of children with chronic disease or parental caregivers in the context of pediatric palliative care. These letters identify personal resources used for promoting courage, hope, self-esteem, self-care practices, are associated with recovery and well-being, and are attributed to reciprocity as a mutual benefit for those who write and receive the letter (Freed et al, 2010). Have been widely used by health professionals in clinical settings to provide families with the opportunity to promote their personal inner strengths (Charepe, 2014;Moules, 2009), offer a sense of companionship and monitoring (Freed et al, 2010;Granek et al, 2013), identify attributes related to courage, hope, and self-esteem, and promote the adherence to self-care practices (Barrera et al, 2013;Charepe, 2014;Freed et al, 2010;Granek et al, 2013).…”