Elaine Wittenberg

Caring for the Family Caregiver examines the high cost and poorly addressed exigencies of the family caregiver in chronic illness, including health literacy, palliative care, and health outcomes, through the prism of communication. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to identify the impact of communication and its burdens on the caregiver and presents four caregiver profiles: the Manager, Carrier, Partner, and Lone caregiver, each emerging from a family system with different patterns of conversational sharing and expectations of conformity. By synthesizing current data assessing the experiences of caregivers, as well as integrating the narrative experiences of a range of caregivers living through a variety of illnesses and their specific demands, the authors deliver an unflinching gaze at the journey of the caregiver. With an author team comprised of three health communication researchers and a nurse and health literacy expert, this volume integrates literature addressing caregiver needs and burdens, communication theory and practice, palliative care and health literacy research, and the real stories of caregivers. Caring for the Family Caregiver presents the groundbreaking concept of the Caregiver Types and an innovative set of support resources to facilitate improved pathways to better care for the caregiver, making it an essential resource for providers, students, clinicians, policy makers and family caregivers alike.

Communication in Palliative Nursing presents the COMFORT Model, a theoretically-grounded and empirically-based model of palliative care communication. Built on over a decade of communication research with patients, families, and interdisciplinary providers, and reworked based on feedback from hundreds of nurses nationwide, the chapters outline a revised COMFORT curriculum: Connect, Options, Making Meaning, Family caregivers, Openings, Relating, and Team communication. Based on a narrative approach to communication, which addresses communication skill development, this volume teaches nurses to consider a universal model of communication that aligns with the holistic nature of palliative care. This work moves beyond the traditional and singular view of the nurse as patient and family educator, to embrace highly complex communication challenges present in palliative care-namely, providing care and comfort through communication at a time when patients, families, and nurses themselves are suffering. In light of the vast changes in the palliative care landscape and the increasingly pivotal role of nurses in advancing those changes, this second edition provides an evidence-based approach to the practice of palliative nursing. Communication in Palliative Nursing integrates communication theory and health literacy constructs throughout, and provides clinical tools and teaching resources to help nurses enhance their own communication and create comfort for themselves, as well as for patients and their families.

Build your skills in communication with a scientific, competency-based approach! Essentials of Nursing Communication helps you gain communication knowledge and develop observable communication skills/behaviors in nursing. This text goes beyond an anecdotal, “soft skills” approach to communication. It integrates the COMFORT model with the concepts and domains of the 2021 AACN Essentials, covering key topics like professionalism, DEI, and person-centered care. Standards and learning objectives for undergraduate nurse communication training are scaffolded across chapters, implementing the gold-standard approach to competency-based learning to help you communicate effectively in today’s nursing practice. The four concepts in the 2021 AACN Essentials are integrated throughout the text, covering communication, clinical judgment, compassionate care, and diversity/equity/inclusion; the 10 domains are also included. Essentials Spotlight graphics depict the junction of the Essentials domains with communication science and related skills. The COMFORT model - a model created, researched, and applied by the authors - focuses on nurse communication in healthcare, with this acronym standing for: Connect, Options, Making meaning, Family caregivers, Openings, Relating, and Team. Theory at Work directly applies theory to communication dynamics and challenges in actual nursing contexts. Communicate with COMFORT integrates the COMFORT model into chapters across the text, linking communication science to the clinical communication practices of the nurse. Communication Matters Across the Four Spheres of Care describes nursing communication in these four areas: Wellness and Disease Prevention, Chronic Disease Care, Regenerative/Restorative Care, and Hospice/Palliative Care. Nurse Forward highlights the voices and stories of nurses advancing the field of nursing, elevating the role of the nurse as well as opportunities in leadership. Self-care content includes reflections from nurses and nursing students. Learning features reinforce chapter objectives with key terms, competencies, critical thinking engagements, boxed features/callouts, and charts/diagrams. N/A