Relationsskapande i skyddsutrustning - Kuratorers erfarenheter från Covid-19

Sammanfattning: The Covid-19 pandemic had a global effect on both the world as well as Swedish healthcare. For example, new guidelines for wearing protective equipment were required. However, the protective equipment created several barriers to communication. The purpose of this thesis is to understand healthcare counselors’ views on and experience of establishing relationships and how Covid-19, as well as how the increased usage of protective equipment, has affected the establishment of relationships with patients. The thesis draws on Dewane’s theory of ”Use of Self” and Howe’s ”Relationship-based thinking” as a theoretical framework to analyze the results. Eight qualitative interviews with healthcare counselors who had previous experience working in protective equipment have been used as empirical material. The interviews were semi-structured and contacted in spring 2023. This thesis has concluded that healthcare counselors view themselves individually as a tool and, therefore, use this tool as further strategies when establishing relationships. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, various compensation strategies were developed, e.g. verbalized interpretations, due to the lack of visual expressions because of the protective equipment being used. These compensation strategies were proven to be efficient when masks were used but not sufficient enough when using, e.g. face shields.