From the 2024 Global Conference held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Author: Professor Caroline Pereira
Peplau`s Interpersonal Theory of Nursing is the core of the competencies in psychiatric mental health nursing and guides the nurse to establish a nurse-client therapeutic relationship in which the anxiety perceived and managed by nurse and client is central to the process. The aim of this study was to describe concepts of the interpersonal theory of psychiatry and how the concepts of the interpersonal theory of nursing were extended for anxiety management in people with substance use disorders. Fawcett’s theoretical and empirical theory development structure guided the application of the theory to the intervention components. In Step 1, we identified and described the key phenomena addressed in the interpersonal theory of psychiatry and interpersonal theory of nursing; in Step 2, the theoretical model of the phenomena was developed; in Step 3, relational propositions to connect the model with the interpersonal theory of nursing were developed; and in Step 4, the empirical structure to evaluate the Interpersonal Theory of Nursing for Anxiety Management in People with Substance Use Disorders was completed. This study provides a description of the concepts from Peplau’s ITN to the current nursing context, with emphasis on the treatment of substance use disorders. The construction of a theoretical framework that includes the nature, manifestation, severity, determinants, and consequences of anxiety in substance use disorders provides a deeper understanding of anxiety and how this tension is exhibited and affects multiple aspects of the client’s life. The relational propositions among anxiety, self-efficacy, relief behaviors, stress, and relations can fit in daily health care provided by nurses in multiple health facilities. The explicit theoretical concepts guide nurses on the construction of intervention strategies to help them manage clients’ anxiety.