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The relationship between nurse–patient interaction and meaning‐in‐life in cognitively intact nursing home patients
Author(s) -
Haugan Gørill
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/jan.12173
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , nursing , structural equation modeling , psychology , mental health , quality of life (healthcare) , lisrel , population , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , statistics , mathematics , environmental health
Aim To investigate the associations between nurse–patient interaction and meaning‐in‐life in a nursing home population. Background Meaning has been found to be a strong individual predictor of successful ageing and life satisfaction as well as an important psychological variable that promotes well‐being. Meaning seems to serve as a mediating variable in both psychological and physical health. Connecting and communicating with others have been seen to facilitate meaning‐in‐life among older individuals. Design Cross‐sectional descriptive study. Methods The data were collected in 2008–2009 using the Nurse–Patient Interaction Scale and the Purpose‐in‐Life test. A total of 250 cognitively intact nursing home patients met the inclusion criteria and 202 (81%) participated. A structural equation model of the hypothesized relationship between nurse–patient interaction and meaning was tested by means of LISREL 8.8. Findings The structural equation model fit well with the data. A significant direct relationship between nurse–patient interaction and meaning‐in‐life in cognitively intact nursing home patients was displayed. Conclusion Nurse–patient interaction significantly relates to meaning and purpose‐in‐life among cognitively intact nursing home patients and might be an important resource in relation to the patient's mental health and global well‐being. High‐quality nurse–patient interaction and in‐house activities aiming to increase patients’ meaning might increase psychological and physical health, well‐being and psycho‐spiritual functioning in this vulnerable population.