ABSTRACT
Self-awareness, empathy, and patient-centered care are essential components for nurses for improving nurse-patient relationship and providing high-quality care for the patients. There is limited research regarding these components among critical care nurses in Arab countries, including Jordan. Thus, this study purposed to evaluate the self-awareness, empathy, and patient-centered care among critical care nurses in Jordan. A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design was applied. Data were collected from 140 registered nurses from six hospitals in different health sectors. Findings showed that the mean scores for self-awareness, empathy and patient-centered care were as follows: 1.92 (SD = 0.27), 4.87 (SD = 0.88), and 3.71 (SD = 0.80), respectively. These results indicate that nurses had a high level of self-awareness and empathy and a low level of patient-centered care. There was no relationship between self-awareness and socio-demographic variables, perceived stress, and social support. Also, there was a positive relationship between empathy and social support (r = 0.310, p < 0.001). Patient-centered care had a positive relationship with social support (r = 0.202, p < 0.05) and perceived stress (r = 0.175, p < 0.05), also, male nurses had higher patient-centered care than female encounters. Social support was a predictor of empathy, while social support and perceived stress were the main predictors for patient-centered care. The results of the study reflect the need for educational programs to promote self-awareness and empathy to enhance patient-centered care and achieve high-quality patient care. Additionally, correlating factors with PCC (social support and perceived stress) should be taken into consideration upon implementing any interventional programs.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2022.2094427