Interpersonal Skills for Nurses and Health Care Professionals

It is important for health workers to be effective and confident in their daily communications with clients/patients in order to develop therapeutic relationships. For new students this can be a particularly daunting task, since often this confidence comes from personal experience. This book provides examples of the type of clinical experiences students are likely to have on their student placements and offers a theoretical framework for them to understand and learn from these interchanges. The book illustrates three main theoretical approaches taught to students: Psychodynamic, person-centred and behavioural. The book takes a lifespan approach, covering the care of the child, the adolescent, the adult and the elderly person, including mental-health issues. Each chapter recounts a student's experience of working with a particular client group, enabling the reader to identify with the personal account and relate their own experience to the theoretical approaches under consideration. The reader is encouraged to reflect on the value of each of the theoretical approaches, thereby increasing effectiveness in communicating with patients.

Preface; The interpersonal arena; Theoretical approaches; Approaches to the care of the child; Approaches to care in adolescence; Approaches to the care of the adult; Approaches to the care of the older patient; Approaches to the care of the adult with mental health disorder; Approaches to cultural and spiritual care; Conclusions: an eclectic approach; Index