Hildegard Peplau was an American nurse who developed the theory of interpersonal relations in nursing. Some key facts about Peplau include that she was born in 1909, received her nursing diploma in 1931 and had advanced degrees in psychology. Peplau worked as a psychiatric nurse and helped develop psychiatric nursing education. She identified four phases of the nurse-patient relationship: orientation, identification, exploitation and resolution. Peplau's theory emphasizes the importance of the interpersonal relationship between nurse and patient and that nursing is a therapeutic process.

2. Nursinglab.com
Peplau was born in Reading, Pennsylvania
[1909].
Diploma from Pottstown Hospital School
of Nursing in 1931.
Baccalaureate degree (BA) in
interpersonal psychology from
Bennington College in 1943.
Masters in psych. nursing from Columbia
University in 1947
Developed and chaired the graduate
Psych. nursing at Rutgers University.
Served in theWW II Army Nurse Corp,
W.H.O. and NIMH.
Worked at Bellevue Psych. Facility.
Served as president and executive
director of the ANA.
Peplau died March 17, 1999 (Current
Nursing, 2013)

3.  Published in 1952.
Nursinglab.com

4.  As a child, Peplau witnessed the devastating flu epidemic of 1918,
which greatly impacted her understanding of illness and death
(Current Nursing, 2013).
 Her work with psychiatric patients at Bellevue psychiatric Facility
greatly influenced her career. Peplau helped pass the Mental Health
Act of 1946(Nursinglab, 2013)

5. Theory of interpersonal
Relations Hildegard E. Peplau
Interpersonal Theory
(Harry Stack Sullivan)
Analytic Psychiatry
(Erich Fromm) & (Sigmund Freud)
Theory of Human Motivation
(Abraham Maslow)
Personality Theory
(Neal Edgar Miller)
General Systems Theory
(Ludwig Von Bertalanffy)
(Current Nursing, 2013
&
Microsoft word design)

6. • Peplau’s theory is a middle range, descriptive, classification theory (Wayne,
2014).
• Peplau’s theory is defined as, “An interpersonal process of therapeutic interactions between an
individual who is sick or in need of health services and a nurse especially educated to recognize,
respond to the need for help” (Wayne, 2014).
• Person: A developing organism that tries to reduce anxiety caused by needs.
• Environment: Existing forces outside the organism and in the context of culture.
• Health: A word symbol that implies forward movement of personality and other ongoing human
processes in the direction of creative, constructive, productive,
• personal and community living.
• Nursing: A significant therapeutic interpersonal process. It functions cooperatively with other
human process that make health possible for individuals in communities (Wayne, 2014)

8.  Stranger- receives the client in the same way one meets a stranger,
while providing an accepting climate that allows trust building.
 Teacher-helping the client learn formally and informally in reference
to a need or interest.
 Resource Person-provides specific answers to questions within a
larger context.

9.  Counselor- helps to understand and integrate the meaning of
current life situations while providing encouragement to make
changes(current nursing, 2013).
 Surrogate-helps to clarify domains of dependence,
interdependence and independence and acts on clients behalf as an
advocate.
 Leader- helps client assume maximum responsibility for meeting
treatment goals in a mutually satisfying way.
(Current Nursing, 2013).

10.  Orientation phase- is directed by the nurse and involves engaging
the client in treatment, providing explanations information and
answering questions.
 Identification phase- begins when the client works
interdependently with the nurse, expresses feelings, and begins to
feel stronger.
 Exploitation phase- client initiates and makes full use of the
services offered.
 Resolution phase- the client no longer needs professional services
and gives up dependent behavior, professional relationship
terminates(Gonzalo, 2011).

11. Assessment
•Data collection and analysis [continuous]
•May not be a felt need
Orientation
•Non continuous data collection
•Felt need
•Define needs
Nursing diagnosis
Planning
•Mutually set goals
Identification
•Interdependent goal setting
Implementation
•Plans initiated towards achievement of mutually set
goals
•May be accomplished by patient , nurse or family
Exploitation
•Patient actively seeking and drawing help
•Patient initiated
Evaluation
•Based on mutually expected behaviors
•May led to termination and initiation of new plans
Resolution
•Occurs after other phases are completed successfully
•Leads to termination
(Current Nursing, 2013)

12.  Understanding that nursing is a process and not an outcome we
relate to Peplau’s phases that help guide nurses through a
complex relationship between the client and the nurse.
 Peplau’s stated roles of a nurse help us to better understand our
responsibility in the patient treatment process and to better
facilitate treatment outcomes.
 According to Peplau, the professional nurse who becomes ever
more mature recognizes the contribution of great nurses of the
past without being intimidated or dominated by their
contribution to the exclusion of consideration of all the new
possibilities in the light of a changing social situation (D'Antonio,
Beeber, Sills, & Naegle, 2014).