Abstract
The concept of empathy is the key factor for understanding the object and contains the meanings of helping. This study aimed to inductively delineate the structure and process of empathy in the patient-nurse relationship through the perception of nurses by using the methods of the participant observation and interview. The subjects of this study were 19 nurses in a medical unit of a private university hospital in Tokyo. The result of the study showed that 1) in the very first moment when a patient and a nurse met, the nurse perceived attraction (aishou) toward the patient, 2) then the both began to disclosure private-self to the other (mutual openness), 3) which led the nurse to sympathize with the patient, 4) and to mutually confirm the feelings and responses to the other, 5) and finally reached the feelings of empathy which was perceived by the nurses that mutual feeling were transmitted and understood. If the empathy was once experienced, the nurses felt that the mutual relationship tended to continue and deepen as the time passed. It has been emphasized in the literature that the helper in the empathetical relationship may feel as if he or she were the client but should not emotionally identify with the person. However, the result of this study indicates that the nurses experience the relationship as the strong feelings of identification with patients. It may occur due to he Japanese cultural context.
