Therapeutic communication help!!!

[elilop]

what would you say to a mom that is crying because she thinks she made her newborn sick?

[metricalpound]

"How are you handling this?"

Or you just might want to be silent.

From what I understand of therapeutic communication is that the nurse doesn't want to ignore or trivialize the patient's feelings while at the same time, the nurse wants the pt. to express how they feel.

So I wouldn't say, "It's going to be ok" or "I'm sure that you didn't get your child sick" or any other thing that I may think because it's not about me or my thoughts or my judgements.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I would say something like, "What makes you think that you made your baby sick?"

Gather more information. It doesn't belittle the Mom or give an opinion one way or the other -- but it shows respect for the mom's feelings and gets her to give you more information. You can then act on that additional information.

For example: If she believes she made the baby sick by angering God, you can diagnosis a spiritual problem and respond appropriately for that situation. If she says she made the baby sick by feeding it rat poison, your response would be different.

[CBsMommy]

I would ask if she would like to sit down and talk about it. Sometimes, if a mother has a chance to openly discuss their fears, they will get it out (which helps) and you might have some room for education depending on what those fears are.

[elilop]

thanks!!! all the answers are awesome!!! :redpinkhe

[christyness, BSN]

If the woman says, "I made her sick," you can respond with:

"What makes you think that you made her sick?"

Then narrow it down. For instance, if she responds with, "I didn't do what I was supposed to do," you would then say, "What were you supposed to do". Let's say she then says, "I was supposed to keep her safe." She's being vague. You want her to be specific. So you say, "What do you think you could have done to keep her safe?" And so on until she says something specific.

If she's just sitting there crying, you can say:

Tell me what you are feeling right now.

Tell me what you are thinking right now.

You want her to keep talking, and not just clam up and cry on her own. You may need to be silent for a few moments and let her collect herself. Your body positioning is highly important here. You should be sitting down, facing her, at conversational distance.

You can try to incorporate touch as well. You can put a hand on her shoulder to let her know you're there for her, for instance. Touch is very powerful, but you should be careful - if there are any cultural or personal reasons why she wouldn't want to be touched, then don't touch her.

Avoid closed-ended questions (questions that can be answered with one word) and "Why" questions, which tend to make people feel like they must defend themselves.

[elilop]

thanks, awesome idea about asking her what makes her think she made the baby sick!