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Meanings of giving touch in the care of older patients: becoming a valuable person and professional
Author(s) -
David Edvardsson Jan,
Sandman PerOlof,
Rasmussen Birgit H.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2702.2003.00754.x
Subject(s) - dementia , perspective (graphical) , power (physics) , psychology , meaning (existential) , health care , hermeneutic phenomenology , phenomenology (philosophy) , nursing , lived experience , aesthetics , psychotherapist , social psychology , medicine , disease , epistemology , visual arts , pathology , economics , economic growth , art , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
Summary • Touch is central to nursing and health care workers frequently touch their patients, consciously or unconsciously in their interactions with them. Most literature has studied touch from a patient perspective, thus inquiry about professionals' experiences are rare. • The aim of this study was to illuminate meanings of giving touch in nursing care of older patients. • To understand the meaning of lived experiences of giving touch in care of older patients, interviews with 12 health care professionals in northern Sweden were analysed using a phenomenological–hermeneutic approach influenced by the philosophy of Ricoeur. • The findings show that giving touch in the care of older patients is a transforming experience, where one suddenly perceives oneself as both a valuable person and professional who no longer powerlessly confronts patients' haunted and disrupted bodies, but who, by means of touch, has gained power to ease this suffering. • The experience also transforms the way one regards older patients. Instead of seeing a severely demanding patient suffering from dementia and/or pain, one is able to see the person behind the disease as a human being, like oneself. • A relationship described as calm, friendly and humane is created between caregiver and patient when giving touch, a relationship that transcends the moment of touch and influences one's way of caring. This understanding is presented using the theoretical framework of the philosophy of Marcel. • Giving touch has the power to shed new light on health care professionals' experiences of caring for older patients suffering from dementia and/or pain, giving them the power to be a valuable person and professional.