Intimacy - Meeting Needs and Respecting Privacy in the Care of Elderly People: what is a good moral attitude on the part of the nurse/carer?

This article explores notions of intimacy in the caring context. The aspects discussed are: privacy and intimacy; intimacy as emotional and/or physical closeness; intimacy as touch; sexual intimacy and normal ageing; sexual intimacy and patients suffering from dementia; and intimacy as trust. Exampl...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Mattiasson, Anne-Cathrine (Author) ; Hemberg, Maja (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 1998
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 1998, Volume: 5, Issue: 6, Pages: 527-534
Further subjects:B Privacy
B Intimacy
B care of elderly people
B Sexuality
B Touch
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This article explores notions of intimacy in the caring context. The aspects discussed are: privacy and intimacy; intimacy as emotional and/or physical closeness; intimacy as touch; sexual intimacy and normal ageing; sexual intimacy and patients suffering from dementia; and intimacy as trust. Examples are given and problems are identified, with reflection on the attitude and behaviour of the carer. It is suggested that when trying to make moral decisions in concrete situations it is imperative that the carer is aware of the values upon which his or her own thinking is based. It is argued that the guiding principle should be the moral assumption that the carer’s responsibility can never be interpreted as a right to disregard the wishes of the patient. Hence, the key word in daily care is ‘respect’.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/096973309800500607