Preconditions needed for establishing a trusting relationship during health counselling - an interview study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the preconditions needed by district nurses to build a trusting relationship during health counselling of patients with hypertension.


BACKGROUND
Trust has been found to be an important aspect of the patient-nurse relationship. Little research has focused on how trust is formed in patient-nurse relationships or the conditions the development process requires when working with health counselling; in particular not in relation to hypertension.


METHODS
Qualitative study.


METHODS
Qualitative data were collected through open-ended interviews with all (10) district nurses from three primary health care districts of western Sweden. All interviewees work with the health counselling of patients with hypertension. A latent content analysis was performed with thematic coding of the content of the interviews.


RESULTS
The first theme that emerged from the analysis, the nurses' competence, describes the nurses' consciousness of their method of expression, both oral and non-verbal, as well as their pedagogical competence and their ability to be reliable in their profession. The second theme, the patient meeting, describes the continuity in the patient meeting and creating respectful communication.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show an awareness of preconditions influencing building a trusting relationship. When creating a trusting relationship the communication and pedagogical competences of district nurses have considerable importance. Despite this awareness they state that it is easy to fall into a routinised way of working.


CONCLUSIONS
The implications of this study might be used as support and guidance for district nurses when developing their competence in health counselling in relations to patients with hypertension. This knowledge is also important when planning for nurse-led clinics for this patient group.
Eriksson
Irene
I
School of Life Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden.
Nilsson
Kerstin
K
D037001:Directive Counseling; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000451:nursing*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013997:Time Factors; D035502:Trust