Utilization of the bales system in the study of nurse-patient interaction

Abstract

A growing number of investigators is recognizing the central role of verbal interaction in nursing assistance. A diversity of tools or systems of interaction analysis has been detected in the especific literature of our profession. In the present study we describe the use of an interaction analysis system within the context of hospital nursing, i.e., the interaction Process Analysis of Bales. The objective was to investigate the existence of a pattern of interaction between the nursing team and the patients. The technique used was direct observation of the behavior resulting from interaction between members of the nursing team and patients newly admitted to the wards. The interacting subjects were observed for 10 periods of four hours each and six verbal episodes were recorded on forms by the observers. The verbal interactions obtained from the record were classified on the basis of the Bales System and grouped into positive, neutral and negative areas. There was a preponderance of the neutral area (85,4%) over the positive (8,4%) and negative (6,1%) areas, confirming the existence of a pattern of interaction between the subjects studied and demonstrating that the interaction between nursing team and patients is centered around functional problems. The interaction occurs as part of the instrumental role of the professional group studied. The Bales analysis system proved to be very useful in the detection of interaction patterns between the nursing and hospitalized patients.