Concept Analysis
Every therapeutic relationship requires the practitioner to possess some compassion and empathy degree since they form the essential ingredients to assist other people. The significance of compassion and empathy becomes aggravated when others are in need. However, the two components need help to work. Therefore, for every practitioner to practice strength-based care (SBC), they must acknowledge their weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and strengths (L. Gottlieb & B. Gottlieb, 2013). The awareness is critical to nurses since it helps them understand the strengths and weaknesses of their patients. Among practicing nurses, acknowledging SBC serves the role of responding to situations in a conscious, mindful, thoughtful, and deliberate manner (L. Gottlieb & B. Gottlieb, 2013). Understanding is an essential requirement of a professional nurse’s development and growth.
The qualities that form the tenet of SBC are categorized into four strengths: mindset, knowing and knowledge, relationship, and advocacy strengths. The mindset strength constitutes outlooks, attitudes, values, or philosophies that impact an individual’s behavior (L. Gottlieb & B. Gottlieb, 2013). These attributes are further analyzed to include open-mindedness, humility, mindfulness, and acceptance or non-judgmental attitudes. Knowing and knowledge strength are linked to essential information acquisition and use qualities. It is responsible for the rise of new ideas that motivate nurses to seek further information about their patients (L. Gottlieb & B. Gottlieb, 2013). The following subcategories linked to the quality are self-reflection and curiosity.
The relationship strength constitutes qualities essential in establishing and maintaining collaborative partnerships between nurses and their patients. The attributed rates associated with this SBC strength include kindness and compassion, empathy, and trust and respect (L. Gottlieb & B. Gottlieb, 2013). The qualities attributed to the advocacy strength are critical since they help nurses protect, defend, or stand up for their patients and family. Self-efficacy and courage are the subcategories linked to strength (L. Gottlieb & B. Gottlieb, 2013). It is equally essential for nurse professionals to remember that with every quality comes a different power that is highly interrelated yet functions interdependently.
Concepts Integration with Personal Caring Experience
As a patient and a young adult, I have experienced several inappropriate uses of a nurse’s strength when being cared for. The nurse’s exercise of power over my health condition made me feel vulnerable and lowered my sense of self-worth. The willingness of the practitioner to meet my healthcare needs and the suggested ways to meet them revealed an arrogance level among several nurses I have met in the past resulting in seeking an alternative approach to the problem. In these scenarios, nurses must develop greater self-awareness by gaining deeper insight into their strengths. Based on what I know now, the arrogance level experienced in the past is attributed to nurses exercising power over their patients or taking advantage of them, which lowers the patient’s self-worth.
Evolving Understanding
Every practicing or learning nurse must acknowledge that every relationship with their patients varies. According to Chinn and Kramer (2018), nurses have the responsibility to know the context of their understanding, and one way to achieve this is by self-reflection. Nurses must compare their relationship to what they want to see. Practitioners can express themselves genuinely and authentically (Chinn & Kramer, 2018). Through this, they are able to heal how they interact with their patients and form the foundation of what it means to be human.
References
Chinn P. L. & Kramer M. K. (2018). Knowledge development in nursing: Theory and process (10th ed.). Elsevier.
Gottlieb L. & Gottlieb B. (2013). Strengths-based nursing care: Health and healing for person and family. Springer Publishing Company.