'Understanding and being understood' as a creative caring phenomenon--in care of patients with stroke and aphasia.
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.
Sundin
Karin
K
Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Ornsköldsvik, Sweden. karin.sundin@mh.se
Jansson
Lilian
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology / Q000451:nursing* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000451:nursing*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013548:Sweden