Peplau's Theory Of Interpersonal Relationships And The Transgender Community

Interpersonal Relationships and the Transgender Community Nursing theory is one of the first topics taught in nursing school. Nursing theory gives the nurse a base for identifying with their patients, organizing and analyzing information collected, to assist their patient. Many patient populations present with specific issues and concerns; nursing theory aids the nurse in seeing their patients as individuals and helps to tailor care as such. Across the lifespan, people’s needs with respect to health care are constantly changing and for the members of the transgender community this is especially true (McCann & Sharek, 2015). Studies indicate that services available to the transgender community are limited at best; and for the services that are available, healthcare professionals are undereducated and at times insensitive to the needs of this population (McCann & Sharek, 2015). By examining Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relationships, this paper will explore how using this theory will help the nursing professional provide quality care to members of the transgender community.

Peplau’s theory is an “interaction” theory, which focus on the relationship nurses form with their clients and how through building that relationship the client is better served (Petiprin, 2015). Peplau’s theory has the nurse in many different roles among them: stranger, resource person, teacher and counselor (Petiprin, 2015). In addition, the theory breaks the client-nurse relationship into four different phases: orientation, identification, exploitation and resolution (Petiprin, 2015). In meeting the needs of the transgender community using Peplau’s theory, the four phases of the client-nurse relationship will be