Relating EEG changes and I--thou feelings during nursing interview.

Abstract

The present investigation describes correlations between subjective experiences and physiological responses of a nurse observed during a client-centered interview. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded during twelve interview sessions for the nurse, and also for a patient in six sessions simultaneously with the nurse. Heart rate (HR) was also measured in five different sessions for the nurse and patient separately. To investigate subjective experience, the nurse listen to the recorded dialogue of interview. She reviewed it focusing on a feeling of oneness with the patient. Alpha waves in EEGs appeared frequently during the interview and these periods were very well coincided with the time points when the nurse experienced a feeling of oneness with patient like I-thou relation described by Buber. Although alpha waves were very rarely recorded in the patient EEGs, it occasionally appeared at about the same time as that of the nurse. The nurse's HR was very stable during sessions as compared with that of the patient. The present study suggests the usefulness of physiological approaches using EEGs to investigate the deep interpersonal process occurring during nurse-patient interactions.