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Differences in perceived communication barriers among nurses and elderly patients in China
Author(s) -
Ruan Jing,
Lambert Vickie A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2008.00387.x
Subject(s) - medicine , perception , nursing , china , elderly people , family medicine , psychology , gerontology , neuroscience , political science , law
In China, limited information exists about nurses' and elderly patients' perceptions of barriers to the communication process. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to identify the major communication barriers (nurse‐related, patient‐related, and environment‐related) perceived both by nurses and elderly patients and to determine the perceived differences in the level of importance of the communication barriers between nurses and elderly patients. The sample consisted of 84 nurses and 75 elderly patients who completed a demographic questionnaire and a communication barriers questionnaire. The findings suggested that the nurses and elderly patients often selected similar barriers related to the communication process. The nurses tended to assign higher values to the communication barriers that were found to be significantly different from those of the elderly patients. The study findings provide information about which type of barriers nurses need to address so as to facilitate effective communication with elderly patients.