Caring through relation and dialogue: a nursing perspective for patient education

Area of Science:

• Nursing Science
• Healthcare Education

Background:

• Patient education is recognized as vital in nursing history and theory.
• A specific nursing framework for patient education has been lacking.
• Early nurse theorists highlighted the importance of patient teaching.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a nursing perspective for patient education.
• To develop a conceptualization of caring as the basis for patient education.
• To generate a middle-range theory for patient education.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical explication of nursing and patient education views.
• Development of a conceptual framework based on caring.
• Generation of a middle-range theory.

Main Results:

• A nursing perspective for patient education grounded in caring is proposed.
• Philosophical underpinnings for nursing patient education are clarified.
• A middle-range theory for patient education is generated.

Conclusions:

• The presented framework offers a specific nursing approach to patient education.
• Caring is identified as a foundational concept for effective patient education.
• The generated theory provides a basis for research and practice in nursing patient education.