Featured Love In Healthcare: A Gadamerian Inquiry into Nurses' Experience View Digital Media

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Sky Elisabeth Höppner  

LIVE ZOOM SESSION - 1 September 2021 - 14:00 PM: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4566244277?pwd=NGh0K2FZUHg2M2luMDN6R3JCdHFqdz09 Love as a fundamental element of wellbeing is a phenomenon that has been explored since questions of philosophy began. Part of everyday life, love’s necessity in wellness, illness, and even healthcare is increasingly recognized, for in the absence of love, illness, addiction, failure-to-thrive, and death are seen. Yet understanding the experience of love in healthcare is limited, particularly from the nurse’s perspective, regardless of the idea that perhaps the profession itself is based on altruistic love for humanity. This paper explores a research study on love in healthcare from the nurse’s perspective using a qualitative Gadamerian approach. Photography and interview experiences of six nurse participants revealed that love manifests in forms of being, awareness, action, and connection. It was discovered that the love present in healthcare is reflective of love in life, and that understanding of love comes through the experience of it. Though love was found to exist in healthcare, it is not yet present to the extent it could be, therefore, research such as this, which focuses on illuminating the concept of love, could prove beneficial to healthcare and humanity. This work contains a new model illustrating love in healthcare, a helpful tool for providers in understanding the concept. As a fundamental element of wellbeing, love and self-love facilitate the healing process; the ultimate goal of medical care. Education is key to its application and recommendations for heart-centered practice are included in this study.