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One important application of theories of collective intentionality concerns the evolution of social understanding and even of human thinking (Tomasello M, A natural history of human thinking, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014). A promising idea behind this approach is the Cooperative Evolutionary Hypothesis (CEH), namely, the idea that humans’ capacity for social cooperation is at the heart of their ability to understand others’ mental states and behavior, leading to an explanation of how humans came to share thoughts and language. However, some of the most popular defenses of CEH face important problems. In this paper, we take Tomasello’s account (J Soc Ontol 2(1):117–123, 2016); A natural history of human thinking. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014; Origins of human communication. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008) as a leading example of the CEH which faces such insurmountable problems. In particular, we argue that Tomasello’s analysis of cooperation and spontaneous help is problematic. We locate a source of such issues in the assumption that the right account of joint action and simple forms of shared intentionality is that which is offered by Bratman’s theory of shared intentions. The second part of the article proposes and defends an alternative framework for understanding shared intentionality that can help substantiate CEH.

Background: The Student International Community of Practice is a global network of more than 30 doctoral candidates affiliated with the Centre for Person-centred Practice Research, at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. An ongoing challenge the community faces is its changing and growing membership; as members progress and complete their doctoral studies they leave the group, and as the centre grows new community members (doctoral candidates) join. Aim: To explore and describe the experience of being a member of the Student International Community of Practice, using a creative process of reflection and collaborative analysis, and to identify the implications for the future of the community and the integration of new members. Conclusion: The Student International Community of Practice is a valuable social learning experience for those who are members. It will continue to be a flourishing safe space if, despite its changing membership, we pay explicit attention to our agreed purpose, ways of working and values. Implications for practice/academic research: • Belonging to a sustainable and flourishing community of practice enhances learning, and decreases isolation and loneliness on the doctoral journey • A community of practice is sustainable when it is underpinned by a clear purpose, agreed ways of working and values, to which all members consistently pay explicit attention

presented at the 11th International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics Asia/Oceania Regional Congress, 23-27 October 2019, Taipei, Taiwan

presented at the 11th International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics Asia/Oceania Regional Congress, 23-27 October 2019, Taipei, Taiwan

presented at the 11th International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics Asia/Oceania Regional Congress, 23-27 October 2019, Taipei, Taiwan

Through this short, critical piece, I, as someone who comes from an Indigenous Pacific heritage, aim to challenge the way in which mainstream society positions societal problems as siloed, isolated from a structural, collective understanding of societal problems generally evident in Indigenous epistemologies. I suggest that by using an anti-oppressive social work practice approach where power imbalances are examined and understood within a wider context, we, as a Pacific community, are better equipped to create strategies and solutions that are inclusive of those traditionally not included in the conversation for change. We need to promote the importance of creating a shared, collaborative stance on the social and welfare needs evident in the Pacific diaspora in Australia and to involve diverse voices including the voices of non-Pacific people genuinely wanting to assist our own cultural capital and growth in Western societies. This can positively influence the people with the power to make social change to share control of change- making processes and to create multiple discourses that reflect the cultural diversity of those working for justice; this will allow us to move beyond the traditional, individualistic rhetoric of 'us and them' to 'we'.

Background The rising incidence of cancer and increasing number of cancer survivors place competing demands on specialist oncology clinics. This has led to a need to consider collaborative care between primary and secondary care for the long-term post-treatment care of cancer survivors. Objective To explore the views of breast and colorectal cancer survivors, their oncologist and GP about GPs taking a more active role in long-term cancer follow-up care. Methods Semi-structured interviews using a thematic analysis framework. Respondents were asked their views on the specialist hospital-based model for cancer follow-up care and their views on their GP taking a greater or leading role in follow-up care. Researcher triangulation was used to refine the coding framework and emergent themes; source triangulation and participant validation were used to increase credibility. Results Fifty-six interviews were conducted (22 patients, 16 oncologists, 18 GPs). Respondents highlighted the importance of GPs needing specialist cancer knowledge; the need for GPs to have an interest in and time for cancer follow-up care; the GPs role in providing psychosocial care; and the reassurance that was provided from a specialist overseeing care. A staged, shared care team arrangement with both GPs and specialists flexibly providing continuing care was found to be acceptable for most. Conclusion Collaborative care of cancer survivors may lessen the load on specialist oncology clinics. The findings suggest that building this model will require early and ongoing shared care processes.

The basic approach to understanding shared agency (or joint action) has been to identify individual intentional states that are somehow “shared” by participants and that contribute to guiding and informing the actions of individual participants. But, as Michael Bratman suggests, there is a problem of stability and depth that any theory of shared agency needs to solve. Given that participants in a joint action might form shared intentions for different reasons, what binds them to one another such that they have some reason for continuing to participate in the joint action in the face of conflicting reasons? This is particularly pressing in cases of joint actions that unfold over long periods of time. There are a variety of ways that the problem of stability and depth of shared intention might be addressed. We review some of those ways in section 1. We do not intend to challenge these approaches. Instead, in this article, we want to suggest that narrative is an additional, perhaps in some cases a predominant, way in which stability and depth are achieved. According to some theories, narrative plays a crucial role in the development of the self. Our suggestion is that the narratives we tell about our joint projects contribute to the development of a stable and deep “we.”

With increasing reliance on new and interactive technologies, a challenge producers face is the requirement of a secure system to control users of their cooperative designs or applications to reap economic benefit. An authentication code is the series of letters and numbers, often disclosed after purchasing a product or service and that allows access for that user. This paper provides insight into the generation and verification of existing authentication codes and proposes a new scheme, which uses cryptography to embed mathematical structure within the codes to better protect cooperative applications. The proposed method uses a changing key based on a secret key and a random number, and symmetrical block cipher.

Too much medicine is an increasingly recognised problem, and one manifestation is inappropriate polypharmacy in older people. Polypharmacy is usually defined as taking more than five regular prescribed medicines. It can be appropriate (when potential benefits outweigh potential harms) but increases the risk of older people experiencing adverse drug reactions, impaired physical and cognitive function, and hospital admission. There is limited evidence to inform polypharmacy in older people, especially those with multimorbidity, cognitive impairment, or frailty. Systematic reviews of medication withdrawal trials (deprescribing) show that reducing specific classes of medicines may decrease adverse events and improve quality of life. Two recent reviews of the literature on deprescribing stressed the importance of patient involvement and shared decision making. Patients and clinicians typically overestimate the benefits of treatments and underestimate their harms. When they engage in shared decision making they become better informed about potential outcomes and as a result patients tend to choose more conservative options (eg, fewer medicines), facilitating deprescribing. However, shared decision making in this context is not easy, and there is little guidance on how to do it. We draw together evidence from the psychology, communication, and decision making literature (see appendix on thebmj.com). For each step of the shared decision making process we describe the unique tasks required for deprescribing decisions; identify challenges for older adults, their companions, and clinicians (figure); give practical advice on how challenges may be overcome; highlight where more work is needed; and identify priorities for future research (table).

Given evidence that early executive functioning sets the stage for a broad range of subsequent outcomes, researchers have sought to identify ways to foster these cognitive capacities. The current series of studies sought to design, develop, and provide evidence for the efficacy of embedding cognitive activities in a commonplace activity-shared reading of a children's book. The book, Quincey Quokka's Quest, required children to control their thinking and behavior to help the story's main character through a series of obstacles. The first study investigated effects of reading with embedded cognitive activities in individual and group contexts on young children's executive functions (EFs). The second study compared reading with embedded cognitive activities against a more active control condition (dialogic reading) that similarly engaged children in the reading process yet lacked clear engagement of EFs. The third study sought to investigate whether the effect of reading the story with embedded EF activities changed across differing doses of the intervention and whether effects persisted 2 months post-intervention. All studies provided evidence of intervention effects on shifting, with working memory benefits shown in two of the three studies, in as little as 3 weeks (compared to more traditional reading). Study 3 further indicated maintenance of these gains 2 months later. This suggests the efficacy of embedding cognitive activities in the context of everyday activities, thereby extending the range of users and contexts in which this approach can be used.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been widely adopted in practice for objects identification. The ownership of an object can be represented by the ownership of the RFID tag attached to the object. An ownership could be shared among different parties and should be transferable. Although many RFID ownership transfer protocols were proposed, a shared ownership transfer protocol remains as a daunting task with absence of a trusted party. In this paper, we propose the first provably secure shared ownership transfer protocol, which requires merely hashing computations and has a constant key size.

The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) Scale is designed to consider some of the intentional and relational pedagogical strategies strongly associated with child outcomes. It considers practice that supports children aged between 2 and 5 years of age in developing skills in sustained shared thinking and emotional well-being as well as developing strong relationships, effective communication and aspects of self-regulation. It is designed to be used for research, self-evaluation and improvement, audit and regulation. Using the SSTEW Scale alongside other environment scales (including ECERS-E, ECERS-R or ITERS-R) gives users a more complete picture of what high-quality early childhood education and care can look like. It is aspirational in that it considers high quality pedagogy and practice. It can be used by researchers, heads of centres, managers, teaching staff and practitioners, as well as advisory staff and in professional development.

There has been a considerable resurgence in research on children's play in recent years, which provides clear guidelines as to the nature of provision for play, its purposes and the processes by which it influences children's development and learning (Broadhead et al ., 2010; Moyles, 2010; Whitebread, 2011). Powerful evidence has also emerged within developmental psychology as new research techniques using neuroscientific and other physiological measures have shown strong and consistent relationships between children's level of play and their cognitive and emotional development (Bornstein, 2006; Tamis-LeMonda and Bornstein, 1989). Within the educational arena, play is widely recognized as a leading context for the child's acquisition of communication and collaboration skills and provides an important context for well-being, learning and development. The current Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guidance (DfES, 2012) in England uses the role of play as 'an effective characteristic of learning', encouraging adults to use a rich range of experiences and resources through talk, modelling and joint-play activities. The role of the 'adult' within joint activity is of particular interest here. The notion of sustained shared thinking (SST), referring to the sharing of thinking with an adult and to the sustained nature of some of the interactions identified in effective (in terms of child outcomes) preschool settings (Siraj-Blatchford et al ., 2002) is an area of current research development. As decades of research have shown, play begins first with solitary play and the child goes on to develop the capability to share, then to co-operate and finally to collaborate in their play (Siraj-Blatchford, 2008).

There are many things we do together: we enjoy listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, we paint a house, we discuss a proof of Fermat's last theorem together. We also share a tradition with our ancestors, the world of nature with people from distant countries we have never met and responsibility with our co-workers for the outcome of a given task. There are many ways in which we can be together, have joint goals, share intentions, emotions and experiences. However, current accounts tend to explain these different ways of being-together in terms of one single form of collective intentionality. In doing so, they endorse three main assumptions

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been widely adopted in practice for objects identification. The ownership of an object can be represented by the ownership of the RFID tag attached to the object. An ownership could be shared among different parties and should be transferable. Although many RFID ownership transfer protocols were proposed, a shared ownership transfer protocol remains as a daunting task with absence of a trusted party. In this paper, we propose the first provably secure shared ownership transfer protocol, which requires merely hashing computations and has a constant key size.

There are many things we do together: we enjoy listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, we paint a house, we discuss a proof of Fermat's last theorem together. We also share a tradition with our ancestors, the world of nature with people from distant countries we have never met and responsibility with our co-workers for the outcome of a given task. There are many ways in which we can be together, have joint goals, share intentions, emotions and experiences. However, current accounts tend to explain these different ways of being-together in terms of one single form of collective intentionality. In doing so, they endorse three main assumptions

There has been a considerable resurgence in research on children's play in recent years, which provides clear guidelines as to the nature of provision for play, its purposes and the processes by which it influences children's development and learning (Broadhead et al ., 2010; Moyles, 2010; Whitebread, 2011). Powerful evidence has also emerged within developmental psychology as new research techniques using neuroscientific and other physiological measures have shown strong and consistent relationships between children's level of play and their cognitive and emotional development (Bornstein, 2006; Tamis-LeMonda and Bornstein, 1989). Within the educational arena, play is widely recognized as a leading context for the child's acquisition of communication and collaboration skills and provides an important context for well-being, learning and development. The current Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guidance (DfES, 2012) in England uses the role of play as 'an effective characteristic of learning', encouraging adults to use a rich range of experiences and resources through talk, modelling and joint-play activities. The role of the 'adult' within joint activity is of particular interest here. The notion of sustained shared thinking (SST), referring to the sharing of thinking with an adult and to the sustained nature of some of the interactions identified in effective (in terms of child outcomes) preschool settings (Siraj-Blatchford et al ., 2002) is an area of current research development. As decades of research have shown, play begins first with solitary play and the child goes on to develop the capability to share, then to co-operate and finally to collaborate in their play (Siraj-Blatchford, 2008).

The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) Scale is designed to consider some of the intentional and relational pedagogical strategies strongly associated with child outcomes. It considers practice that supports children aged between 2 and 5 years of age in developing skills in sustained shared thinking and emotional well-being as well as developing strong relationships, effective communication and aspects of self-regulation. It is designed to be used for research, self-evaluation and improvement, audit and regulation. Using the SSTEW Scale alongside other environment scales (including ECERS-E, ECERS-R or ITERS-R) gives users a more complete picture of what high-quality early childhood education and care can look like. It is aspirational in that it considers high quality pedagogy and practice. It can be used by researchers, heads of centres, managers, teaching staff and practitioners, as well as advisory staff and in professional development.

BACKGROUND Engineering is a problem-based practically oriented discipline, whose practitioners aim to find effective solutions to engineering challenges, technically and economically. Engineering educators operate within a mandate to ensure that graduate engineers understand the practicalities and realities of good engineering practice. While this is a vital goal for the discipline, emerging influences are challenging the focus on 'hard practicalities' and requiring recognition of the cultural and social aspects of engineering. Expecting graduate engineers to possess communication skills essential for negotiating satisfactory outcomes in context of complex social beliefs about the impact of their work can be an unsettling and challenging prospect for engineering educators. This project identifies and addresses Indigenous engineering practices and principles, and their relevance to future engineering practices. PURPOSE This Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) project proposes that what is known/discoverable about indigenous engineering knowledge and practices must be integrated into engineering curricula. This an important aspect of ensuring that engineering as a profession responds competently to increasing demands for socially and environmentally responsible activity across all aspects of engineering activity. DESIGN/METHOD The project addresses i) means for appropriate inclusion of Indigenous students into usual teaching activities ii) assuring engineering educators have access to knowledge of Indigenous practices and skills relevant to particular engineering courses and topics iii) means for preparing all students to negotiate their way through issues of indigenous relationships with the land where engineering projects are planned. The project is undertaking wide-ranging research to collate knowledge about indigenous engineering principles and practices and develop relevant resource materials. RESULTS It is common to hear that such social issues as 'Indigenous

Typically analysis of the characteristics of friendships is made on the basis of nomination of a friend or best friend, with the assumption that this nomination reflects actual friendship. While it is possible that this assumption may be valid in typically developing children, this may not be the case for relationships for students with developmental disabilities. The relationships of 16 students with developmental disabilities in grades 1 through 6 and their three closest peers were examined to determine if dyads engaged in behaviors associated with defining components of friendship (i.e. shared interaction, mutual enjoyment, mutual liking) from literature on typically developing children. Interviews were conducted with target students, as well as with their peers, parents and teachers. Interview data indicated that the majority of dyads engaged at least sometimes in behaviors related to each of the defining components of friendship and reported behaviors associated with these components were typically reported as mutual. Additionally, voluntary peer nomination of friends at the beginning of interviews corresponded well with the presence of characteristics of friendship but this was less so when peers needed to be asked directly whether a child with a disability was a friend.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are lifelong developmental disabilities characterised by marked difficulties in social interaction, impaired communication, restricted and repetitive interests and behaviours, and sensory sensitivities (Aspect 2009). While there is considerable debate as to prevalence, Centrelink data shows an estimated prevalence of 62.5 per 10,000 for 6-12 year old children (McDermott et al. 2007). While young children find social situations aversive and prefer to play alone, as these children reach their teens many desire social contact with their peers but lack the ability to form and maintain friendships. Observations in schools demonstrate peer interaction in children with ASDs is of lower frequency and poorer quality than peer counterparts (Aspect 2012). The standard approach has been to work on social skills development with the ASD child and/or to educate teachers and support workers in social interaction facilitation. However, these approaches ignore the central element of peer relationships - the need for both parties to better understand each other and develop skills in communicating in a way that is acceptable and understandable to the other. There is a small body of evidence that disclosure of an ASD diagnosis and peer education can increase acceptance by peers (Dowjotas, 2009) although there are no published studies on interventions in schools (Keane, 2007).

We share an interest in public health and in the capabilities approach developed by Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, and others (Comim, Qizilbash, and Alkire 2008; Sen 2009; Nussbaum 1999), so were curious to see how Jennifer Prah Ruger would apply her "health capability paradigm" to health governance. The resulting model-shared health governance (SHG)-has real potential to promote justice in health in some contexts. However, based on the description provided in this issue (Ruger 2011), aspects of SHG seem at odds with important features of the capabilities approach. We suggest that SHG will better safeguard the freedoms of individuals-including their health capabilities-if modified in two ways: (1) if the scope of application is reduced, and (2) if a focus on capabilities for health rather than achievements of health is more consistently maintained.

Ever increasing demand for commercial wireless applications has forced a rethink of radiowave coordination arrangements. Attempts to reform prescriptive centralised approacheshave targeted a model of exclusive usage rights through ownership and markets, and aregime of shared usage through free access and collaborative platforms. Both have beenquite successful. However, the diametrically opposed ideological nature of these two alternativeshas also polarised the reform movement. Multidisciplinary approaches and thepurely conceptual nature of existing policy research have only exacerbated these differences.I argue here that this policy dilemma has erred. At a conceptual level, the focuson two reform regimes mischaracterises the true set of policy choices. At a practical level,the emphasis on extreme views of these two regimes is an inaccurate depiction of actualpolicy reforms. Furthermore, the implied incompatibility between the two reform regimesbelies their complementary nature.

The Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) has been commissioned by the Attorney General's Department to undertake research on the implications of the changes to the 2006 Family Law Reforms on Shared Care Parenting, and the circumstances under which shared care arrangements work, and do not work, in the best interests of the child. This research has been undertaken in consortium with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and the University of Sydney Law School, and led by the SPRC.

The Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) has been commissioned by the Attorney General's Department to undertake research on the implications of the changes to the 2006 Family Law Reforms on Shared Care Parenting, and the circumstances under which shared care arrangements work, and do not work, in the best interests of the child. This research has been undertaken in consortium with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and the University of Sydney Law School, and led by the SPRC.

Ever increasing demand for commercial wireless applications has forced a rethink of radiowave coordination arrangements. Attempts to reform prescriptive centralised approacheshave targeted a model of exclusive usage rights through ownership and markets, and aregime of shared usage through free access and collaborative platforms. Both have beenquite successful. However, the diametrically opposed ideological nature of these two alternativeshas also polarised the reform movement. Multidisciplinary approaches and thepurely conceptual nature of existing policy research have only exacerbated these differences.I argue here that this policy dilemma has erred. At a conceptual level, the focuson two reform regimes mischaracterises the true set of policy choices. At a practical level,the emphasis on extreme views of these two regimes is an inaccurate depiction of actualpolicy reforms. Furthermore, the implied incompatibility between the two reform regimesbelies their complementary nature.

This paper is concerned specifically with the pedagogies applied in supporting learning through children‟s play, and it is framed outside mainstream discourses on the nature of play. The development of the paper also represents one stage in a continuing effort to develop a better understanding of sustained shared thinking in early childhood education. The paper also focuses on the educational potential of shared playful activities. However, given the overwhelming consensus regarding the importance of play in early childhood development, even a diehard educational pragmatist must begin by addressing subjects that are most commonly considered by psychologists. The paper begins with an account of „sustained shared thinking‟, a pedagogical concept that was first identified in a mixed method, but essentially educational effectiveness study. Then a consideration of the nature and processes of „learning‟ and „development‟ is offered. It is argued that popular accounts of a fundamental difference in the perspectives of Piaget and Vygotsky have distracted educational attention from the most important legacy that they have left to early childhood education; the notion of „emergent development‟. Pedagogic progression in the early years is then identified as an educational response to, and an engagement with, the most commonly observed, evidence based developmental trajectories of young children as they learn through play.

Robert Veatch has proposed a model of the doctor-patient relationship that has as its foundation the sharing of values between the doctor and the patient. This paper uses qualitative research conducted with six doctors involved in the long term, specialised care of HIV positive patients in South Australia to explore the practical application of Veatch's value sharing model in that setting. The research found that the doctors in this study linked "values" with sexual identity such that they defined value sharing, in part, as a shared set of values and beliefs about sexual identity and practices. They voluntarily identified themselves as either homosexual or heterosexual and they regarded the relation between their own sexual identity and that of their patients as important for the provision of quality care. None of the doctors thought that value sharing, in the way they defined it, was essential to the clinical relationship, but the homosexual doctors attributed a greater degree of importance to it than their heterosexual colleagues.

Philosophers are all too familiar with the standard epistemological worry that our belief that feelings and emotions lurk behind the outward behaviour of others cannot be justified. Yet there is a more fundamental puzzle about other minds, which asks: How is it possible for us to have developed psychological concepts that apply to both ourselves and others at all? This latter sceptical problem has become known as the conceptual problem of other minds. It is a conundrum precisely because the two most natural ways of addressing it are doomed to failure. For example, on the one hand, if we learn our psychological concepts of experience by making essential reference to our own experiences then it is logically impossible to apply the very same concepts to others. The problem is that any attempt to do so would require reconceiving what is essential to concepts of experience; that is the idea that experiences have an essentially subjective character. Given this, the mere fact of others being 'other' makes ascribing experiences to them a conceptual impossibility. Following this line of thinking to its natural solipsistic end, if this were the basis of our concepts of experience then the only ones I could understand would be my own. It would be literally inconceivable that experiences, other than mine, could even exist.

Philosophers are all too familiar with the standard epistemological worry that our belief that feelings and emotions lurk behind the outward behaviour of others cannot be justified. Yet there is a more fundamental puzzle about other minds, which asks: How is it possible for us to have developed psychological concepts that apply to both ourselves and others at all? This latter sceptical problem has become known as the conceptual problem of other minds. It is a conundrum precisely because the two most natural ways of addressing it are doomed to failure. For example, on the one hand, if we learn our psychological concepts of experience by making essential reference to our own experiences then it is logically impossible to apply the very same concepts to others. The problem is that any attempt to do so would require reconceiving what is essential to concepts of experience; that is the idea that experiences have an essentially subjective character. Given this, the mere fact of others being 'other' makes ascribing experiences to them a conceptual impossibility. Following this line of thinking to its natural solipsistic end, if this were the basis of our concepts of experience then the only ones I could understand would be my own. It would be literally inconceivable that experiences, other than mine, could even exist.

The paper is based on a phenomenological study of the nurse–patient encounter, the purpose of which was to uncover meaning and generate understandings of being a psychiatric nurse. The study was informed by the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger (1962) and the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer (1975). Drawing upon this phenomenological study it is my intention to discuss three of the existential elements to emerge from an interpretative analysis of these encounters; ‘Being-with’ as understanding, ‘Being-with’ as possibility, and ‘Being-with’ as ‘care-full’ concern. The paper also discusses two modes of being-with patients; the modes of the ‘they’ nurse and the ‘self’ nurse. An underlying theme of shared humanity emerged from the study and had the effect of unifying the other concepts uncovered.

The paper is based on a phenomenological study of the nurse–patient encounter, the purpose of which was to uncover meaning and generate understandings of being a psychiatric nurse. The study was informed by the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger (1962) and the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer (1975). Drawing upon this phenomenological study it is my intention to discuss three of the existential elements to emerge from an interpretative analysis of these encounters; ‘Being-with’ as understanding, ‘Being-with’ as possibility, and ‘Being-with’ as ‘care-full’ concern. The paper also discusses two modes of being-with patients; the modes of the ‘they’ nurse and the ‘self’ nurse. An underlying theme of shared humanity emerged from the study and had the effect of unifying the other concepts uncovered.

The paper is based on a phenomenological study of the nurse–patient encounter, the purpose of which was to uncover meaning and generate understandings of being a psychiatric nurse. The study was informed by the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger (1962) and the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer (1975). Drawing upon this phenomenological study it is my intention to discuss three of the existential elements to emerge from an interpretative analysis of these encounters; ‘Being-with’ as understanding, ‘Being-with’ as possibility, and ‘Being-with’ as ‘care-full’ concern. The paper also discusses two modes of being-with patients; the modes of the ‘they’ nurse and the ‘self’ nurse. An underlying theme of shared humanity emerged from the study and had the effect of unifying the other concepts uncovered.