Self-disclosure and nursing students: the replication of a Jourard study

A person's willingness to disclose things about him or herself is an important facet of all social interaction. In professional helping relationships effective management of treatment and therapy may depend ultimately on a person's self-disclosures. Sidney Jourard claimed in 1971 that "disclosure begets disclosure". It is important therefore to explore professional helpers' willingness to disclose things about themselves, as this may influence the dialogue which they have with their clients and patients. In this paper we describe a replication of a small study carried out by Sidney Jourard in 1961. An opportunistic sample of 25 undergraduate nursing students was asked to complete Jourard's self-disclosure questionnaire. Analysis of the findings suggested that, overall, the students in this study were more self-disclosing than was the case in the earlier study. Other findings are noted as are the limitations of this form of exploration of self-disclosure.