recently diagnosed with schizophrenia, she explained her
role, assessed Mrs M’s level of anxiety and gave parame-
ters for their meetings in order to help her in an appropri-
ate manner. Mrs M asked questions about mental illness
and talked about her experiences with the nurses during
her son’s initial hospitalization on a psychiatric ward.
The nurse and Mrs M moved into the working phase of
the relationship when Mrs M identified her inability to dis-
close her son’s illness. The orientation phase is completed
when the client can begin to identify problems to work on
in the relationship (Peplau 1952). The nature of the prob-
lems identified can be as diverse as the scope of nursing
practice (Forchuk 1993, p.9). As Mrs M described her feel-
ings of ambivalence, in that she felt torn in setting priorities
between her son and the rest of her family, the nurse lis-
tened attentively, conveying acceptance and understanding.