title: The biology of caring: researching the healing effects of stress response regulation through relational engagement.
abstract: Caring, a core tenet of nursing practice, grew out of a holistic approach. Nurse theorists often note the establishment of a therapeutic relationship as the beginning point of caring, with subsequent nursing interventions reliant upon this relationship for effectiveness. Relational exchange serves as a source of either stress or healing between participants, and rarely is its impact neutral. Relational stress, in fact, has become a primary contributor to many disease processes in terms of promotion and progression and perhaps even initiation. Patient-provider relationships have a long history in medical and nursing literature as critical to providing effective interventions, but our understanding of relational dynamics between patients and providers remains fairly superficial. This theoretical article adapts a previously described biobehavioral model to illustrate the nature and centrality of caring relationships in nursing practice. The dynamic process of face-to-face engagement is deconstructed from a psychobiological standpoint in order to understand the physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral impacts of relational interaction. This understanding is then applied to the patient-provider relationship. Finally, the utility of biomarkers of stress, positive emotion and resonance, and of disease is discussed relative to the patient-provider relationship. Methodological and interpretive challenges inherent in this line of research, along with suggestions to address such challenges, are also presented.
authors: Program in Nursing Science, University of California, Irvine, USA. robynn.zender@gmail.com
authors: Robynn
authors: R
authors: Zender
authors: Ellen
authors: E
authors: Olshansky
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013315:Stress, Psychological