Communication is transactional, since
people can affect or become affected
through their interactions 1
. Effective
communication is of great importance in
the clinical area, as it can contribute to
the implementation of the expected
therapeutic outcome. The last years
nursing inquiry has been mostly focused
on the nurse-patient relationship in the
context of therapeutic communication 2
.
A role-play situation is designed to
reflect the interaction between a care
provider and a patient in order to
implement the expected therapeutic
outcome. It is very important that health
professionals should have the ability to
apply effective communication skills
during their interaction with their
patients 3
.
The most important issues derived from
the analysis of a role-play situation are
as follows:
Understanding
Self-disclosure and trust
Respect
Truth telling and honesty
Power and interpersonal conflicts
Empowerment and support
Reflective thoughts 3
.
Understanding
The issue of understanding is present in
each role-play situation. Nurses have to
use the appropriate listening skills in
order to understand patients’ problems.
Understanding is of vast importance in
the context of therapeutic
communication, since it enables nurses
to explore patients' problems and
effectively support them 3
. For this
purpose, nurses have to use active
listening in order to let patients know
that they hear and understand them and
collect useful information about their
condition.
Although a considerable number of
health professionals use listening skills
when communicating with patients, few
of them use these effectively 4
. When
care providers use active listening during
interaction with their patients, they
encourage them to express their fears
and worries, while they have the ability
to control the conversation and collect
accurate information about their
condition
Self-disclosure and trust
Self-disclosure is an important issue in a
role-play situation, since it allows
patients to trust nurses. Self-disclosure is
essential in the context of therapeutic
communication, since it helps health
professionals to gain patients' trust6
.
People who self-disclose are open,
honest, authentic, warm, friendly, free,
together, strong, trusting, and maturing