PROXEMICS COMMUNICATION IN NURSING WORK: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

This study was aimed to identify factors of proxemics communication in nursing work. An integrative literature review was performed with data that were collected from the Database of Latin-American and Caribbean Health Sciences, Database of Nursing, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, and Scientific Electronic Library Online, through the descriptors: nursing, health communication, spatial behavior. The sample included six articles published between 1971-2010 and data were organized, analyzed and interpreted according to Edward T. Hall´s proxemics factors: posture-gender identifiers, sociopetal-sociofugo axis, kinesthetic factors, visual code and voice loudness. There was convergence among the studies for all factors, where proxemics was the most used in nursing work with those individuals who do not yet have the gift of speaking or have an impaired verbal language. Nursing needs to expand the use of proxemics as another form of communication to foster care.