Hildegard Peplau

Interpersonal Relationship Theory

BACKGROUND
 Hilda Peplau was born September 1, 1909, in reading
Pennsylvania. As a child, she witnessed the devastating
flu epidemic of 1918.
 This personal experience greatly influenced her
understanding of the impact of illness and death on
families. Peplau began her career in nursing in 1931 as a
graduate of the Pottstown Hospital School of Nursing in
Pennsylvania. She then worked as a staff nurse in
Pennsylvania and new York City.
 Peplau vigorously advocated that nurses should become
further educated so they could provide truly therapeutic
care to patients rather than the custodial care that was
prevalent in the mental hospital of that era.
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS IN
NURSING - (1952)

Stated the need to emphasize importance

of nurse patient relationship in providing
health care
March 7, 1999 died at the age of 89
“ Psychiatric nurse of the century”
PSYCHODYNAMIC NURSING

Peplau defines psychodynamic nursing

because her model evolves through this
type of nursing.
Psychodynamic nursing is being able to
understand one’s own behavior to help
others identify felt difficulties, and to apply
principles of human relations to the
problems that arise at all levels of
experience.
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS
• The kind of person the nurse becomes
makes a substantial difference in what each
patient will learn as he receives nursing
care.
• Fostering personality development toward
maturity is a function of nursing and
nursing education. Nursing uses principles
and methods that guide the process toward
resolution of interpersonal problems.
4 Phases of Interpersonal Theory
1. Orientation
 The initial interaction between the nurse and the patient
 The patient has a felt need and expresses the desire for
professional assistance
 The nurse assists the patient in recognizing and
understanding the patient experience
 
2. Identification
 Both nurse and patient explore the experience and the
needs of the patient which leads to a feeling of
relatedness
 The nurse assist the client in re orienting his feelings
and sustaining a constant positive environment
3. exploitation
 The patient derives the full value of the
relationship as he moves on from
dependent role to independent role
New goals are projected by the nurse, but
the power is shifted on the patient
 
4. Resolution
The patient earns independence over his
care as he puts aside old goals and
formulates a new one
Nursing Roles
1. Role of a Stranger – the nurse and patient are strangers to each other
- as the nurse attempts to know the patient better, she
must treat him with utmost courtesy and due respect
over his individuality.

2. Role of the Resource Person – the nurse provides information

3. Teaching Role
 
4. Leadership Role
 
5. Surrogate Role
 
6. Counselling Role
“ THE INTERPERSONAL
THERAPEUTIC PROCESS”
aim : patient to become
receptive for the therapy

“ Psychological Mothering”
METAPARADIGM
Nursing
Nursing described as a significant, therapeutic, interpersonal
process.
Person
Peplau defines person in terms of man. Man is an organism
that lives in an unstable equilibrium.
Health
Peplau defines health as a word symbol that implies forward
movement of personality and other ongoing human processes
in the direction of creative, constructive, productive, personal,
and community living.
Environment
forces outside the organism and in the context of the socially
approved way of living from which vital human social process
are derived such as norms, customs and beliefs