Social Relationships in Nurses’ Caring of Adolescents and Emerging Adults With Life-Limiting Illnesses or Injuries

Abstract

A multidisciplinary literature theorizes the nurse–patient relationship. Nurses’ experiences with and within people’s social worlds are comparatively underexamined. The purpose of this dimensional analysis inquiry was to uncover dimensions of social relationships in nurses’ caring for adolescents and emerging adults with life-limiting illnesses and injuries. Semi-structured interviews with 21 nurses across roles and care settings in the United States occurred concurrently with theoretical sampling and inductive analysis. From the perspective of Caring for You Around You and within a context, Assessing Right for You, Diagnosing the Circle, and Planning Right for Me establish the conditions under which nurses shift between witnessing and participating in social relationships as they engage in the process I Draw and Redraw the Circle. The findings contribute a theoretical explanation of why and how nurses engage in relational care. Contextualizing the findings in nursing theory, family-centered care, and professional ethics elucidates directions for inquiry and practice.