Importance of Therapeutic Communication in Nursing Practice

This article discusses the importance of therapeutic communication in nursing practice and how it helps patients overcome negative feelings and developmental well-being. It also covers different communication styles for patients from different cultural backgrounds. The article emphasizes the importance of active listening, informed consent, and proper body language while communicating with patients.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL NURSING
PROFESSIONAL NURSING
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Answer number 1:
Therapeutic communication may be defined as the face-to-face procedure of interaction
of the healthcare professionals with the patients and their family members that mainly focuses
caring for the physical, mental as well as emotional well-being of the patients (Marie & Jaroslav,
2016). Nurses are seen to utilize different techniques for therapeutic communication for
providing information as well s support to the patients.
Often it is seen that with the increase in age, individuals get affected with different form
of co morbid disorders like diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disorders, strokes, Alzheimer’s
diseases, Parkinson and many others. In such scenarios, they tend to lead very poor quality life as
they become unable to conduct daily activities of life. They tend to become dependent on their
caregivers and these result in loss of confidence from themselves. They tend to lose their self-
esteem as they feel that they are longer independent to care for themselves (Kourkouta &
Papathanasiou, 2014). These make them depressed and they tend to withdraw themselves, as
they feel embarrassed. In such situations, it becomes very important for the nursing professionals
to engage in a therapeutic communication to help the patient overcome such negative feelings
and developmental well-being. It also ensures compliance of the patient with the nursing
intervention
Often breast cancer patients have to undergo mastectomy that often affects them mentally
and emotionally. This is mainly because they tend to think about their body image as they feel
that they would not be beautiful or representable that affects their confidence and emotional
wellbeing. Moreover, before such surgeries, the patients are often seen to be anxious about abut
the operation that might affect their blood pressure due to stress. In such scenarios, the nurses

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play important role in engaging into an effective therapeutic communication to pass onto
valuable information about the surgery and provide empathy and compassion to the patient
helping them to come out of anxiety and depression and try to accommodate accordingly with
the present situation.
Mental health patients socially exclude themselves due to stigmatization and therapeutic
communication helps them to open up and overcome negative feelings and depressions about
society (Thornicroft et al., 2016).
Aboriginal people tend to avoid service from western healthcare systems as they feel that
the professionals might not be culturally competent and might not communicate with them
respectfully due to biasness. Therapeutic communication helps to overcome such beliefs
(Cameron et al., 2014).
Parents of children suffering from disorders like cancer or kidney failure might be broken
down, anxious and filled with grief. Here also, therapeutic communication would help (Thabrew
et al., 2017).
Answer number 2:
Answer number a:
A number of important aspects need to be followed while engaging in therapeutic
communication with the patient. One of them is that such patients do not like eye contact.
Although western culture advises nursing professionals to maintain eye contact, the aboriginal

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patients consider this action disrespectful, rude and aggressive. Therefore, the professionals
should not maintain eye contact. The patient from such background often uses silence during
interaction as they consider it. The nurse should not take this silence as lack of understanding,
urgent concerns or agreement (Keech et al., 2016). Therefore, while educating the patient during
maintenance of proper blood glucose level; such aspects of communication need to be followed.
Moreover, during questioning to the patient, the professionals should make sure not to use any
form of direct questions, as the native people only prefer indirect questioning. Direct questioning
may lead to misunderstandings and discourage any form of participation. This would make it
difficult for obtaining information from such patients especially when they are from non-English
background. The aboriginal patients do not also like touches of strangers and hence care should
be respect while the professionals want to engage in any form of therapeutic communication
techniques (Chan & Sy, 2016). Therefore, professionals should always seek for permission and
immediately explain to the patient the reason why they need to touch her. Therefore, it is
important for the professional to establish a rapport with the patient first and then touch her
accordingly for applying interventions. In many cases, it is seen that the native patients often
have their own meanings of certain English languages that are different from Standard English.
Therefore, it becomes important for the nursing professionals to know the specific English words
that have different meanings for them so that misunderstandings do not occur.
Answer number b:
One of the most important aspects that the professionals should keep in mind while
communicating with Irish patients is that they prefer soft voices. They consider being loud or
disruptive to be to be a poor etiquette and off-putting. Hence, the nursing professionals should
always maintain soft voice. Moreover, the Irish patients tend to have warm and friendly

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disposition but they generally restrain themselves from showing great physical affection in
public. Therefore, the nursing professionals should always maintain them during communicating
with such patients. It should be remembered that such patients want consistent eye contact but
not constant eye contact while talking. This reflects trust as well as engagement. Therefore while
talking to the particular patient; the nurse should maintain consistent eye contact. Humor is
considered to be one of the aspect which is very important for the Irish people. They have a
reputation for their wit and humor (Coyne et al., 2016). They prefer humor that they use to create
laughs and warm spirits among the people. Many of the members are seen to use humor as a
defense mechanism in self-deprecating as well as an ironic way. This can be also shown as a
way for showing a sense of acceptance as well as of attachment between the individuals who are
engaged in communication (Schwind et al., 2016). Moreover, humor is also used in situations
when a person transgresses social norms for easing the situation. Many of the people are also
seen to enjoy witty humor as well as sarcasm. This is well intended and is never meant for
perceiving negatively. In order to develop therapeutic relationship with the patent during his
health education, the professionals should use humor so that they can connect with the patient
emotionally and this would help in developing mutual trust, respect and comfort in the relation.
Answer c:
The parents of the patient are of African origin and their traditions and communication
styles are very different from the Australians. Each and every of the tribes are seen to have their
own customs and therefore the nurses have to be very careful while establishing therapeutic
communication with the patient. The professionals should keep in mind that Africans arrive
straight to point and they tend to say what they mean. People with such origin will make no
hesitation in telling what exactly is wrong or objectifying on the spot. To an Australian nurse,

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this can come out as overly assertive or blunt but they need to know about such communication
style of Africans in order to communicate effectively with them. The professionals should not
feel offended in the absence of such etiquettes; as such, etiquettes might not be present in the
tribes (Defenbaugh & Chikotas, 2016). Moreover, such professionals also need to know that
Africans tend to adopt a louder speaking style naturally, than what the Australians are mainly
seen to do. Therefore, the professionals should keep all these aspects in mind and they should not
show any negative behaviors when the African people would display such traits of
communication. The professionals should also know that they are very comfortable with physical
affections and they like to express their warmth through different actions like that of hugging and
patting each other on the back (Liu et al., 2015). Therefore, the professionals can indulge in
treating the pediatric patients by effectively making him comfortable and providing him, enough
warmth so that he feels secured. Hands should never be put in the pockets as that is
misinterpreted by south Africans to be disrespectful and the nurses should never do that while
handling the patient or talking to his parents. Steady eye contact should be maintained while
communicating.
Answer 3:
Active listening is one of the best strategies by which therapeutic communication can be
ensured by the professionals. By the effective utilization of the verbal and nonverbal cues such as
nodding and saying phrases like “I see” would help in encouraging the patient to continue
talking. It involves showing interest in what the patients are showing, acknowledging that they
are listening and understanding the concerns of patients (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). Such

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engagement throughout the conversation would make the patient feel that they are genuinely
interested in understanding their problems and these have positive effects on the relationship
between them. The second most effective ways is to ensure informed consent from the patients.
The communication with the patient should be such that it would maintain the autonomy and
dignity of the patient. They need to feel that they are respected and they are in the centre of
decision-making. They should not feel less powerful than the professionals should and
communication with them maintaining their dignity and autonomy would ensure effective
participation. The third would be the maintenance of proper body language while communication
is carried on. The positive body language should involve the professionals facing the client,
moving closer to the client as they would be speaking , avoiding being in crossed arms, making
direct eye contact, maintain body postures and friendly gestures (Weber & Farrell, 2016). This
will make the patient feel that the professionals are interested and would help in creating sense of
mutual trust and respect.

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