Abstract

A qualitative method was used to research the experience of knowing self and others in Therapeutic Touch. Three nurses who were experienced Therapeutic Touch practitioners and three patients participated in the study and formed three nurse and patient dyads. Each dyad was observed giving and receiving Therapeutic Touch on three different occasions. Following each treatment the patients and nurses participated in tape recorded interviews. The observational and interview data were transcribed and analyzed. ;The following themes emerged from the data: I know what needs my attention; I know I will be touched in the right places; I know we move and flow rhythmically; I know from a different awareness. A unique theme emerged from the data for each of the dyads and included: I know we are free to move; I know we are more than physical beings; and I know we are attuning to the whole. This research described both the process of knowing self and others in Therapeutic Touch and the characteristics of that knowing. The knowing that occurred for the participants in this study was complex and diverse, was not bounded by three dimensional time and space, and supported the continuous mutual process of the nurse and patient in Therapeutic Touch. In this study the essence of knowing in Therapeutic Touch was the wisdom of the whole and that was characterized by perceptual knowing, unitary knowing, and pandimensional knowing