Empathetic Nursing Care: Bridging Empathy Gaps Through Understanding

This report delves into the concept of empathetic nursing care by examining perceived empathy gaps. It focuses on a specific individual (POF), an 80-year-old Thai woman with a gambling addiction, to explore the challenges in understanding her lifestyle and motivations. The report discusses the initial judgmental perspectives and the subsequent attempts to bridge the empathy gap through understanding the POF's perspective, including the excitement and sense of aliveness she derives from gambling. The application of the 'theory of mind' is explored through an immersion activity, simulating the experience of gambling to gain a deeper understanding of the POF's state of mind. References to relevant academic literature are provided to support the discussion on empathy and social cognition.

EMPATHETIC
NURSING CARE
Name of the student
Name of the university

• It was at first completely unacceptable for me the way she gambles away most
of her monthly income from Centrelink.
• I had a hard time relating to her nature. I could not imagine an older person
spending all their time in a casino and wasting away their money like that.
• The lady is partially blind. She could easily be cheated. She could have stayed
home where she would be much safer.
• Instead of taking care of herself at this age, she spends her time in a casino
which is a highly unmindful act according to me.
• Later, I intended to know about her perspective in order to develop a basic
understanding of her lifestyle and addiction (Melloni, Lopez & Ibanez 2014, pp.
Perceived Empathy Gaps and
Intention

• The person of focus (POF) is an 80 years old woman who is originally from Thailand. She had lost her
husband a few years back and has no children. Her income comes from the Australian Department of
Human Services’ master program Centrelink that delivers the social security payments and services to the
citizens. The lady is partially blind and cannot see things properly. Although she has a severe issue of
being a gambling addict.
• I have always thought of gambling as nothing but a waste of hard earned money.
•I never thought that any older person should lead such a lifestyle.
•I thought that older people are meant to spend time with their families and take care of their health.
• Until I got to talk to the POF, I realized that the lady lives for the excitement of gambling. The rush
and the cheers and echoes of laughter all around the casino makes her entertained. Especially the
rush of the games makes her feel alive and alert unlike anything else. This is the reason she cannot
even think of quitting and is getting addicted to gambling (Reed 2014, pp.7-24).
Description of The Person Of Focus
(POF)
I will add
photo

•The term theory of mind is used by psychologists to describe people’s capability to
align their states of mind to others and the ability to properly interpret, elucidate and
speculate the patient’s behavioral attitude (Dweck 2013).
• I am from Thailand and I am currently working as a gaming ATT at a VIP gaming room
of a casino.
• In order to achieve an increased understanding of the POF’s state of mind, I would put $5
into the slot machine and see how it makes me feel. I would assess my own state of mind
while doing so. I’ll acknowledge if I have a feeling of resentment or whether I feel the same
kind of rush and thrill as the lady in question.
• This will surely let me have a better understanding of the POF’s lifestyle and help me
consider her side of justification. After doing this I will be able to reason with her in a more
preferable way.
Theory of Mind and Immersion Activity

References
Bandes, S., 2017. ‘Empathy, narrative, and victim impact
statements’. In Nussbaum and Law (pp. 225-276). Routledge.
Dweck, C.S., 2013. ’Self-theories: Their role in motivation,
personality, and development’. Psychology press.
Melloni, M., Lopez, V. & Ibanez, A., 2014. ‘Empathy and contextual
social cognition’. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral
Neuroscience, vol. 14, no. 1, pp.407-425.
Reed, G., 2014. ‘The antithetical meaning of the term “empathy” in
psychoanalytic discourse’. Empathy, vol. 1, pp.7-24.