According to Bob Price, a nurse academic writing for the Nursing Standard in

2006, ‘the term person-centred care is used…to indicate a strong interest in the

patient’s own experience of health, illness, injury or need. It infers that the nurse

works with the person’s definition of the situation, as well as that presented through a

medical or other diagnosis’. (pg. 49 – 56)

The notion of person-centeredness has become well recognized within healthcare

and especially within Nursing (Binnie & Tichen 1999, McCormack 2001,2003).

Person Centeredness is also ingrained in many policy initiatives within the UK (eg.

The National Service Framework for Older People, Department of Health 2001).

Evidence has suggested
This is also closely linked to shared decision making which

is also fundamental in person centred care, nurses should always aim where

possible to involve and invite clients to participate in decisions regarding treatment

and medication (Langewitz et al, 1998). In order to promote person centred care

in the clinical setting nurses should try to implement open and honest verbal

communication with their patients; this type of communication is valued by patients

and helps them deal positively with their illness (McCann & Baker, 2001).

Non- verbal communication is all type of communication between two people

which doesn’t involve any speech (Kaspereck, 1997) and it is suggested that

this non-verbal communication is up to 5 times more influential that its verbal

counterpart (Argyle, 1988). A lot of the communication between a client and a

mental health nurse will be non-verbal and being able to read these non-verbal

signs is an important factor in establishing a relationship ( Carton et al. 1999).

Non-verbal communication is also an indicator of genuineness as it demonstrates

emotional support, understanding and respect for the patients as individuals

(Bottorff et al,