Hildegard Peplau facts for kids

Hildegard E. Peplau (September 1, 1909 – March 17, 1999) was an American nurse who changed how we think about nursing. She was the first nursing theorist to publish her ideas since Florence Nightingale.

Peplau created a special nursing idea called the "interpersonal relations theory." This theory helped nurses understand how important their connection with patients is. She also worked to improve mental health care, making it more kind and helpful for patients.

Biography

Early Life and Inspiration

Hildegard Peplau was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1909. She was one of six children. Even though higher education wasn't common for women then, Hildegard was determined to do more. She knew nursing was a good career choice for women at the time.

As a child, she watched how people behaved. She saw the terrible flu epidemic of 1918, which taught her a lot about how illness and death affect families. This experience helped her understand the deep impact of health problems.

In the early 1900s, hospitals started controlling nursing schools. This meant less focus on learning from books and more on nurses as cheap workers. But Hildegard wanted to change this.

Peplau's Career Journey

Peplau started her nursing career in 1931 after graduating from the Pottstown Hospital School of Nursing. She worked as a nurse in Pennsylvania and New York City. Later, she became a school nurse at Bennington College in Vermont.

At Bennington, she earned a bachelor's degree in interpersonal psychology in 1943. She also studied psychology with famous thinkers like Erich Fromm and Harry Stack Sullivan. Peplau spent her life building on Sullivan's ideas to help nurses in their work.

From 1943 to 1945, she served in the United States Army Nurse Corps during World War II. She worked in England, where she met many important people in psychiatry. After the war, she helped shape the mental health system in the United States. This led to the National Mental Health Act of 1946.

Peplau earned her master's and doctoral degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also became certified in psychoanalysis. In the 1950s, she started teaching the first classes for graduate nursing students at Teachers College.

From 1954 to 1974, Dr. Peplau was a professor at the College of Nursing at Rutgers University. There, she created the first graduate program to train nurses as clinical specialists in psychiatric nursing.

She wrote many articles and gave many speeches. Peplau strongly believed that psychiatric nurses needed advanced education. She wanted nurses to provide real healing care, not just basic care, in mental hospitals. In the 1950s and 1960s, she held workshops across the U.S. She taught nurses how to use interpersonal ideas and interviewing skills.

Peplau also advised the World Health Organization and visited universities around the world. She pushed for nursing research and advised the U.S. Surgeon General. She was president of the American Nurses Association from 1970 to 1972. After retiring from Rutgers, she taught in Belgium.

Personal Life and Family

In 1944, while in England, Peplau had a daughter named Letitia Anne Peplau. Hildegard raised her daughter as a single mother. Letitia later became a psychology professor at UCLA.

Hildegard Peplau dedicated her life to her daughter and her nursing career. She passed away peacefully in her sleep in 1999 at her home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.

Peplau's Interpersonal Theory

In her important theory, Dr. Peplau focused on the relationship between the nurse and the patient. She believed this connection was the most important part of nursing practice. Her book, Interpersonal Relations in Nursing, was finished in 1948. It took four more years to be published. This was because it was unusual for a nurse to write such a scholarly book without a doctor as a co-author in the 1950s.

Peplau's idea was revolutionary: nurses and patients should have a shared experience. This was different from patients just passively receiving treatment. She thought nurses could help this by observing, describing, understanding, and checking with the patient. For example, a nurse listens to a patient and forms an idea of their situation. The nurse then checks with the patient to make sure her understanding is correct. This process can help both the patient and the nurse learn and grow.

Peplau's Model of Nursing

Six Nursing Roles

Peplau described six important roles that nurses play in their relationship with patients:

• Stranger role: When a nurse and patient first meet, they are strangers. The nurse should treat the patient with respect and kindness, just like anyone else. The nurse should not judge the patient but accept them as they are.
• Resource role: The nurse gives information about health and treatment plans. This information helps patients understand their situation. The nurse should give clear answers that help the patient learn.
• Teaching role: This role combines all the others. Nurses teach in two ways:
  • Instructional: Giving patients lots of information.
  • Experimental: Helping patients learn from their own experiences.
• Counseling role: Peplau believed this role was very important in psychiatric nursing. The nurse helps the patient understand what is happening to them. They also offer guidance and support to help the patient make positive changes.
• Surrogate role: Sometimes, a patient might see the nurse as someone from their past. The nurse helps the patient understand these feelings. They help the patient see the differences between the nurse and the person from their past.
• Leadership role: The nurse helps the patient take responsibility for their treatment goals. The nurse and patient work together to reach these goals.

Stages of the Nurse-Client Relationship

Peplau also described four stages that the nurse-client relationship goes through:

Orientation Phase

The nurse starts this phase. This is when the nurse and patient get to know each other. They set the tone for their relationship, which is always focused on the patient. It's important to build a professional relationship, not a social one. The patient should feel that the nurse truly cares about them. Trust begins to grow, and both the patient and nurse understand their roles.

Identification Phase

In this stage, the patient starts to identify the problems they want to work on with the nurse. The nurse's goal is to help the patient take part in their own care. This helps the patient become more responsible for themselves.

Working Phase

During the working phase, the nurse and patient work together to reach the patient's goals. A sign that this phase has begun is when the patient sees the nurse as a helpful resource. The patient trusts the nurse completely and uses the nurse's skills. They work together towards the patient being able to leave care.

Termination Phase

This phase happens when the patient's goals have been met. The nurse and patient summarize their time together and end their relationship. Nurse-client relationships are usually temporary. This phase often occurs when a patient leaves the hospital or when their treatment is complete. The goal is for the patient to feel more self-reliant and able to handle their own problems.

See also

In Spanish: Hildegard Peplau para niños