Non-verbal communication: aspects observed during nursing consultations with blind patients

Exploratory-descriptive study on non-verbal communication among nurses and blind patients during nursing consultations to diabetes patients, based on Hall's theoretical reference framework. Data were collected by recording the consultations. The recordings were analyzed every fifteen seconds, totaling 1,131 non-verbal communication moments. The analysis shows intimate distance (91.0%) and seated position (98.3%); no contact occurred in 83.3% of the interactions. Emblematic gestures were present, including hand movements (67.4%); looks deviated from the interlocutor (52.8%), and centered on the interlocutor (44.4%). In all recordings, considerable interference occurred at the moment of nurse-patient interaction. Nurses need to know about and deepen non-verbal communication studies and adequate its use to the type of patients attended during the consultations