‘Understanding and being understood’ as a creative caring phenomenon – in care of patients with stroke and aphasia

Summary • Five care providers particularly successful at communicating with patients with communication difficulties were video‐recorded together with three patients with aphasia after stroke, during morning care activities. The care providers were then interviewed immediately after the video‐recordings, about their experiences of communicating with such patients. • The interviews with the care providers were interpreted by means of a phenomenological hermeneutic method. • Co‐creating was the main theme found. • Care providers invite the patient to participate in the creative act of communication. They have a communicative attitude and show interest in the patients' personal desires. The care providers encounter the patient as a presence in a caring communion. In part, care providers communicate by continuously conveying their presence to the patient and even creating availability in a close and open intersubjective relationship. • A relaxed and supportive atmosphere facilitates reciprocity between care provider and patient. The communication is not technical or strategic; instead care providers share the patients' experiences in a silent dialogue. This silent dialogue involves sharing the patients' feelings and thus receiving messages from the patient.