Nurse-patient power relationship: preliminary evidence of patients' power messages.

The interactive relationship that is based on sharing power and control is the goal of health counseling practice. This research examined the nurse-patient power relationship and emphasized the patient's perspective. Health counseling sessions, 38 in number, were videotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by using an adaptation of conversation analysis (CA). The purpose of this research was to describe in detail how patients' minimized power asymmetry during hospital counseling. The results indicate that power is a complex and polysemic phenomenon that can be created jointly. Nurses' power is associated with their medical knowledge, which also patients construct. However, patients have several options to construct their power and influence the flow of interaction, for example, directing the counseling with questions, interruptions, and extensive disclosure, in which also nurses participated. The results are discussed in terms of earlier research on power messages and implications for a future power sharing practice.