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Interpersonal Relations : Hildegard Elizabeth

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Interpersonal relations Theory Hildegard Elizabeth Peplau, born on September 1, 1909, was an American nurse who is the first and only female nurse to serve the American Nurses Association (ANA) as Executive Director and later as President. She became the second published nursing theorist after Florence Nightingale. Peplau is famous for her Theory of Interpersonal Relations, which assisted in the revolution of the academic work of nurses. Her achievements are valued and respected by nurses all over the world and became known to many as the “Mother of Psychiatric Nursing” and the “Nurse of the Century”. Peplau was raised in Reading, Pennsylvania by her parents. With her young age, Peplau was eager to grow beyond the classical woman role. She…show more content…
She worked under their wing from 1954 until her retirement in 1974. She was a professor emerita at the university. Peplau published her Theory of Interpersonal Relations in 1952. Her theory focused on the nurse-client relationship. She felt that this was the foundation of nursing practice. Peplau created an interpersonal model highlighting the need for a partnership between nurse and clients. This model opposed the patient passively receiving treatment and the nurse passively acting out physician’s orders. Peplau completed her book on conceptual framework, Interpersonal Relations in Nursing, in 1948. It took four additional years for her book to be published because it was groundbreaking for a nurse to contribute this intellectual work without the help of a physician. Peplau was acknowledged with numerous awards and honors for her contribution to the nursing field. On 1999, Peplau died in her sleep at home in Sherman Oaks, California. Peplau applied interpersonal theory to nursing practice and to a nurse–patient therapeutic relationship development. Peplau identified different nursing roles: The Stranger. A nurse is stranger to the client. The client is also a stranger to the nurse. The Resource person. A resource person provides specific answer to questions. In the role of resource person, the nurse explains, in language that the client can understand, information related to client’s
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