The possibility of the emergence of communicative action in a reflection group of nurses

Abstract

This article discusses technical-instrumental action and strategic action in Nursing. The individual is selfcentered, and maintains unilateral points of view. Acting is at a conventional level of morality. By analyzing nurses’ reports of their practice, we investigated which rationale guides their action. We analyzed their expressions in Habermasian pragmatic-formal way, and we observed in the group the predominance of technical-instrumental and strategic acting. The possibility of communicative acting appears when self-centeredness and heteronomy are challenged, and, as a consequence, autonomy is enhanced.