The role of Attachment Styles, Mentalization and shame and guilt in predicting the quality of patient care among nurses

Recent literature has shown an increasing interest in the training of nurses in the field of applying important psychological structures to improve nurse-patient relationships in the clinical environment; Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of Attachment styles, Mentalization, and Shame and Guilt in predicting the quality of care and especially interpersonal relationships between nurses and patients.

The method of this study was descriptive-correlation. The statistical population of the research was all the nurses working in the hospitals of Isfahan in 2022, and 210 of them were selected through convenience sampling. In order to collect data, Adult Attachment Inventory, Reflective Functioning questionnaire Test of Self-Conscious Affect and Quality Patient Care Scale were used. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis in SPSS-24 software.

The results showed that there is a negative and significant correlation between Insecure Attachment, Shame and Guilt, and the uncertainty component of Mentalization with the quality of patient care (P<0.01). There is a positive and significant correlation between Secure Attachment and the confidence component of Mentalization with the quality of patient care (P<0.01). The results of multiple regression analysis also revealed that 66.4% of the variance in the quality of patient care is explained by Attachment Styles, Mentalization, and Shame and Guilt.

The results of this study highlighted the important contribution of assessing the Attachment Style, Mentalization and Shame and Guilt in nurses - to clarify the role of these components in the quality of patient care, especially in the field of interpersonal relationships. It is suggested that these variables be used in future studies to improve nurse-patient relationships.