Increasing nurses' person-centeredness

In a two-phased study, two samples of registered nurses listened to audiotaped disclosure statements from simulated patients and responded to each statement "in as helpful a manner as possible." Their responses were judged for degree of "person-centeredness." Nurses in sample one (N=24) received no intervention between the two phases of the study; nurses in sample two (N=20), after completing phase I, listened to a brief message designed to enhance the helpfulness of their responses. No differences were found for the phase I person-centeredness scores; the nurses who received the intervention showed significant improvement in their degree of person-centeredness as compared to those who did not receive the intervention. Implications of these results are discussed.