Presence is one of the core elements of nursing care and can promote healing. Because of the importance of presence to the practice of nursing it is imperative that nurses and nurse educators understand the nature of presence as completely as possible. A review of selected literature about presence was used to develop a definition that can be useful in understanding presence. An understanding of the components and process of presence is foundational to the development of effective methods for nursing educators to guide students in learning presence in schools of nursing. The literature used to develop the theoretical definition of presence was taken from the disciplines of nursing, theology, and psychology and was extracted from CINAHL, MEDLINE, psycINFO_1887 to present, and ATLAReligion. Approximately eighty-five pieces of literature with dates ranging from 1951 to 2004 were reviewed. Nursing literature identifies antecedents, attributes, and consequences of presence, such as a willingness to connect, vulnerability, trust, intersubjectivity, and self-understanding. The nursing literature further elucidates different ways or modes of being present for clients. Two types of presence from the theological literature are considered: the presence of God and pastoral presence. The psychological literature regards presence as requisite for psychoanalysis and considers concepts such as empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard to be descriptors of presence. The theoretical definition of presence formulated from this review is as follows: presence is a holistic process that involves giving and sharing of self with unconditional positive regard and intersubjectivity in a trusting connection with another.
Session #1222 - Undergraduate Submissions
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)