Abstract
This study aimed to reveal the significance of listening to schizophrenic patients who are in the process of social reintegration, a significant phase, by nurses. Semi-structured interviews regarding attentive listening by nurses were conducted with 10 patients suffering from chronic schizophrenia. Qualitative analysis of the data was performed according to the Kawakita Jiro method. The phases were in the form of a four-step structure, including factors that prevent from listening to the patient, identifying a nurse who is likely to listen to the patient, factors that allow a nurse to listen to the patient, and the listening technique of the nurse to determine whether the patients can describe their real intent. The fourth step was categorized into a listening technique that relaxes the patients' mind and a listening technique with tangential deviations. The significance of attentive listening by the nurse that was identified by the patients developed from the fourth step, i.e., the listening technique that relaxes the patients' mind. From this finding, three types of significance were identified: the patients' feeling of relief that their messages were understood, because they existed in a mixed state as a result of the symptoms of schizophrenia in the chronic stage; the patients' feeling of having shared their suffering during their search for a future way of life; and the patients' feeling of trust in a nurse that began to develop during the listening process. The results also indicate that whether or not a patient's intent is realized depends on the technique used by a nurse during listening and that this realization serves as a catalyst for personal growth.
