Therapeutic Alliance: A Concept for the Childbearing Season |
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Authors: | Mary Ellen Doherty |
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Institution: | MARY ELLEN DOHERTY is an associate professor in the Department of Nursing at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. She has been a nurse-midwife and childbirth educator for more than 25 years. |
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Abstract: | This analysis was conducted to describe the concept of therapeutic alliance and its appropriateness for health-care provider-client interactions during the childbearing season. The concept has been defined in other disciplines. A universal definition suggested a merging of efforts directed toward health. A simple and concise definition evolved, which is applicable to the childbearing season as well as to health-care encounters across the life span. This definition states: Therapeutic alliance is a process within a health-care provider-client interaction that is initiated by an identified need for positive client health-care behaviors, whereby both parties work together toward this goal with consideration of the client''s current health status and developmental stage within the life span. |
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Keywords: | therapeutic alliance pregnancy childbirth concept analysis qualitative research |
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