| The patient teaching relationship is entwined within the dialogue between nurse and patient. Using interpretive phenomenology, consistent with the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, this research study explores the meaning of the relationships that develop for patients with nurses during their learning experiences about gestational diabetes mellitus. It affords a better understanding of how patients engage with the Other in their mutual relationships and what influences their Being-in-the-World. The learning relationship occurs in the context of community, which, for this study is the acute care nursing units and ambulatory clinics that provide prenatal care for women experiencing gestational diabetes. Understanding, for this exploratory study, rests within the insight gained into the everyday experience of patient education, within the relational pedagogical space where patient and nurse connect as learner and teacher. A hermeneutical spiral of interpretation was used to identify four major themes: (1) Attuning to a New World Of Being: What is Happening to Me?; (2) Towards A Connectedness With The Other: Attuning To Possibilities; (3) Becoming We: Needing Creates Something Special and (4) Meeting Expectations And Reconciling Differences. The findings of this study have implications for patient education, nursing practice and education, health policy and research.;Key words: gestational diabetes mellitus, relational pedagogy, education, Heidegger, Buber, Gadamer, Macmurray, Noddings, phenomenology, hermeneutics, interpretive inquiry, nursing. |
