Implementing congruence in nursing care using the salutogenesis model of Antonovsky

Nursing sciences have been addressing the issue of communication in nursing care for quite some time now. In the relevant scientific literature, there is an explanation of communication with nursing care patients, focussing on the difficulties communication entails with particular regard to elderly and sick people (Herzig-Walch 2009; Fricke 2012). As for its inner psychological activities, however, communication processes are equally important to both communication partners. Since Sigmund Freuds discovery of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic theories have pointed out time and again just how many unconscious processes are carried out during a conversation that affect the behavior of both conversation partners (Herold & Weiß 2000). For nursing staff people too do not communicate from an objective, distanced position but are embedded in ones emotional household as any other communication participant. The overall objective of the present paper is to give an account of psychodynamic processes within the context of communication in nursing care. To this end, use will be made of the concept of congruence, which is taken from Carl R. Rogersʼ conversational psychotherapy. In particular, the task is to determine to what extent congruence may help improve the implementation of communication between care-givers and care-receivers. Following a brief historical outline of Carl R. Rogers, congruence is presented as a major element of communication between care-giver and care-receiver. Subsequently, the concepts of congruency and coherence are put into context with the salutogenesis model of Antonovsky.