Patient-centered care is valued in nursing. However, until recently, nursing research has focused on testing the effects of standardized interventions, rather than interventions that are patient centered. Patient-centered interventions (PCIs) are those that are altered to address selected patient characteristics (e.g., beliefs, habits, or goals). (In this paper, “patient” not only refers to an individual who is ill or seeking health services, but also to a social group, such as a family.) PCIs have been well-received by study participants and, in some studies, have been associated with improved health outcomes. If we could develop interventions that were more patient-centered, and if we could demonstrate that such interventions influenced health outcomes more positively than standardized interventions, then this knowledge would be both conceptually and clinically significant. As a result of discussions among a group of scholars interested in PCIs, we have summarized issues about PCIs, focusing on conceptual, rather than methodological issues. More specifically, we a) describe briefly the concept “patient-centered” and identify common dimensions of patient-centeredness, b) summarize the evolution of PCIs, c) discuss different kinds of PCIs, d) provide selected examples of PCIs along with their derivation, implementation, and findings; and e) raise issues for theory and future research.
Learning objectives: 1. Compare and contrast different kinds of patient-centered interventions 2. Discuss examples of different PCIs, along with their derivation, implementation, and findings
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