Joyce Travelbee's Human-to-Human Model

Study Notes

Joyce Travelbee's Human-to-Human Relationship Model

Joyce Travelbee was a psychiatric nurse, educator, and writer who believed that nurses should minister to the whole person, not just their physical needs.
Travelbee emphasized the importance of human-to-human relationships in nursing practice, extending the work of Peplau and Orlando.
Her model proposes that the goal of nursing is to help individuals, families, or communities prevent or cope with illness and suffering, ultimately finding meaning and hope.
Travelbee's model outlines five interactional phases that nurses and patients progress through as their relationship deepens:

The Five Phases of Travelbee's Model

Phase 1: The Original Encounter:
- This phase focuses on the initial impressions and perceptions of both the nurse and the patient, breaking down categorization to see the human being in the patient.
Phase 2: Emerging Identities:
- The nurse and patient begin to perceive each other as unique individuals, establishing the foundation for a relationship.
- This phase involves separating oneself and one's experiences from others, recognizing differences and transcending roles.
Phase 3: Empathy:
- The nurse develops the ability to understand and share the patient's psychological state, but without sharing personal feelings.
- Empathy helps predict the patient's behavior.
Phase 4: Sympathy:
- The nurse shares and experiences what the patient is feeling, demonstrating emotional involvement.
- The task is to translate sympathy into helpful nursing actions.
Phase 5: Rapport:
- The nurse establishes a close and harmonious relationship with the patient, characterized by trust and confidence.
- Nursing interventions lessen the patient's suffering, and the relationship is based on a human-to-human connection.

Key Concepts in Travelbee's Model

-Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. -Sympathy: the feeling of sadness for other people or the act of expressing such feelings or identifying with a person or an idea. -Rapport: a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.