Hildegard Peplau Theory Overview

Hildegard Peplau, a nursing theorist, and nurse who was born in 1909 had her works published widely. Peplau developed the middle-range interpersonal relations nursing theory, which is commonly simply referred to as the Hildegard Peplau Theory. The theory assisted in revolutionizing nurses’ academic work (Brunero, Jeon & Foster, 2015). Peplau made significant contributions to practices and laws related to caring for mentally ill persons. She was keen on ensuring that patients suffering from personality, as well as behavioral, disorders, are treated humanely (Masters, 2015). The theory emphasizes that nursing practice is hinged on the relationships between nurses and their clients according to Parker and Smith (2010). She developed a structured interpersonal model that emphasizes the essence of a relationship between a nurse and his or client in place of situations that are defined by the client getting treatment passively and the nurse acting on the orders issued by doctors passively as well. The theory’s essence is the development of shared experiences between nurses and the patients under their charge (Brunero, Jeon & Foster, 2015). She thought that nurses could promote the sharing of the experiences via inspection, explanation, formulation, explanation, validation as well as intervention.

For instance, while nurses listen keenly to their clients, they develop overall impressions of the situations, or circumstances, of own clients. Consequently, the nurses validate, or authenticate, own inferences, via verifying with the clients to ensure accuracy. The outcomes may include experiential learning, enhancing coping approaches or strategies, and individual growth for the nurses and the clients as well. As noted earlier, the Hildegard Peplau Theory is a middle-range theory according to Parker and Smith (2010). It is highly applicable to classification tasks and is markedly descriptive besides. A close examination of the theory shows that it is built on various concepts of the interpersonal relations theory that was developed by Harry Sullivan (Brunero, Jeon & Foster, 2015). As well, a close examination of the theory shows that it is built on various concepts developed by theorists such as Neal Miller, Abraham Maslow, and Percival Symonds. Especially, the theory is built on varied concepts regarding how individuals appreciate own behaviors (Masters, 2015). Indeed, the theory is commonly christened psychodynamic nursing: an individual’s appreciation of own behaviors.

By and large, the Hildegard Peplau Theory characterizes the primary nursing goal as assisting others to make out own felt inadequacies or difficulties. It is built on the concept that nurses ought to employ human relations principles in solving the difficulties or problems stemming from own experiences (Masters, 2015). The theory elucidates the interpersonal process phases, roles that typify specific nursing situations, and the strategies that can be employed in learning to nurse as if it were a set of interpersonal processes (Fortinash & Holoday-Worret, 2012; Townsend, 2015). It projects nursing as a set of the processes since it entails several persons interacting since they have shared goals according to Parker and Smith (2010). Such goals are attained via the utilization of successive steps in line with specific pattern series. To attain the goals, patients and nurses collaborate, becoming increasingly knowledgeable and mature as they partake in the processes. By and large, the theory projects the nursing practice as healing or therapeutic art, helping persons who require healthcare (Brunero, Jeon & Foster, 2015).

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