...Watson’s Theory of Human Caring Watson’s Theory of Human Caring Introduction Human caring is what sets nursing apart from other professions. As Watson (1998) stated, “care and love are the most universal, the most tremendous and the most mysterious of cosmic forces: they comprise the primal universal psychic energy. Caring is the essence of nursing and the most central and unifying focus for nursing practice” (p. 32-33). It is important to establish a good nurse-patient relationship in order to create a healing environment that would meet patient’s needs on all levels including physical, mental/emotional and spiritual, promote recovery, maintain health, and create positive outcomes. Jean Watson emphasized the importance of human caring and how it influenced nursing practice. This paper aims to define caring moment, discuss background and major concepts of Watson’s theory of human caring, and describe a clinical experience of a patient-nurse interaction with personal reflection. Caring Moment The caring moment happens when the nurse and patient come together with their unique life histories and enter into the human-to-human transaction in a given focal point in space and time (Caruso, Cisar, & Pipe, 2008). The actual caring occasion has a greater field of its own in a given moment; the process goes beyond itself, yet arises from aspects of itself that become part of the life history of each person, as well as part of some larger, more complex pattern of life (Watson...
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...Throughout each nurse’s career, many theories and models have directed the individual practices throughout every specific field of nursing. One of the theories that not only directs a nurse’s practice, but also continues to be a positive influence to the practice is Watson’s theory of human caring. The utilization of Watson’s theory of human caring is extremely relevant within the critical care arena, specifically because of the high acuity of the patient population. The practical application of this theory is explored utilizing several important elements to describe a personal interaction between the patient populations. The Caring Moment Defined Watson (2012) defines the caring moment as, “An actual caring moment occasion involves action and choice both by the nurse and the individual. The moment of coming together in a caring moment occasion presents the two persons with the opportunity to decide how to be in the relationship—what to do with the moment” (p. 71). She further explains that if the moment is spiritual then the chance of openness can occur, making the relationship limitless (Watson, 2012). The successfulness of a caring moment allows the human to human interaction to occur, regardless of the personal and social backgrounds of the participants. In each interaction, the participants display different feelings, thoughts, expectations, spiritual beliefs, environmental respects and individual implications. The historical situations that precede the interaction...
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...Watson's Theory of Human Caring Sandra Middlestate NUR/403 April 16, 2012 Watson's Theory of Human Caring In this paper on Watson’s theory of human caring it will briefly describe the theories background and concepts. In discussion of an actual nurse patient event I have had in Obstetrics it will analyze major theory assumptions related to person, health, nursing and environment in the context of this caring moment, along with a personal reflection of this caring moment. Born in West Virginia theorist Jean Watson has had a very distinguished career, as a nurse educator and researcher in the area of “human caring and loss” (Nursing Theories, 2012, p.1). Beginning her education with a BSN from University of Colorado in 1964, she then acquired her MS from there in 1966 and her PhD in 1973. She has traveled and studied extensively around the world and in the mid 1970’s began putting pen to paper. In 1988, after creating a guide for nurses “published her theory in nursing human science and human care.” (Nursing Theories, 2012, p.1) Watson’s theory of human caring has grown for the last 30 years. As per Alligood (2010, p. 36) three factors make her theory distinctive. First is when the nurse and patient have a caring moment, and create an experience in each other’s life. Second it distinguishes the magnitude of the mind body-spirit while not impeding the wholeness of the person. Third it clearly recognizes many ways of knowing, this includes...
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...Watson’s Theory of Human Caring Nursing has a vast history, and throughout time nursing has adapted and grown to meet the needs of its people. There are some nurses whom are well known and even in history books. These nurses noticed something missing and attempted to fill that gap. Nursing theories came about to help close the gap. Because no two people are exactly alike the theories offer ways a nurse can identify and attempt to meet the needs of his or her patients. Jean Watson is one of those nurses who formed a theory to help fill in a missing piece and close the gap to help nurses assist patients with adapting to, and accepting changes in their health statuses. Jean Watson is not only a nurse, but a nursing instructor, and a published writer as well. She educated future nursing students at the University of Colorado. That is where she unintentionally formed her theory, the Theory of Human Caring, in order to be able to help her nursing students learn. She did not intend to become a theorist, but she has educated many nurses personally and now through her writings and her theory that the nurse is the main component of the patient’s environment (Alligood, 2010). The theory shows that the nurse should know his or her own perspectives and be open to the patient’s perspectives, thus building the caring nurse-patient relationship. The nurse can either help or interfere with the patient’s healing process. Watson will now help nurses much further than she ever imagined...
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...Watson's Theory of Human Caring Iris Wilkins University of Phoenix Nursing Theory 403 Dr. Elizabeth Wider May 12, 2014 Watson's Theory of Human Caring Dr. Jean Watson was born in Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia in the 1940s. She graduated from the Lewis Gale School of Nursing in Roanoke Virginia in 1961.She progressed through her nursing education by obtaining her bachelor’s degree in 1964, a master of science in nursing in psychiatric and mental health nursing in 1966, and a Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling in 1973, all from the University of Colorado at Boulder. (McEwen & Wills, 2007). Today she serves as a legendary Professor of Nursing and holds an endowed Chair in Caring Science at the University of Colorado and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is the author of more than 14 books on caring and holds six honorary doctorates. Recently she founded Watson Caring Science Institute, a nonprofit organization developed to help spread her nursing theory and ideas. (Cara n.d.). In 1979, Dr. Watson established the Theory of Human Caring, her theory is the cornerstone guiding personal and professional nursing practices today. Her philosophical beliefs are based on morals/ethics and grounded in a foundation of having love for your fellow man. Her theory has three primary concepts, carative factors, transpersonal caring relationships and caring occasion or caring moment. Watson (1988). “According to Watson (1988) a caring...
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...Watson's Theory of Human Caring Watson's Theory of Human Caring Theory of caring, Watson has taught me how healthcare providers should practice loving, and kindness to our patients and others. Watson’s theory is not only for patients, but it is for everyone who works in the healthcare industry. Loving, and caring for each other would establish a trusting relationship that will be remembered for a long time. There are four carative factors that I practice on daily basis which they are the humanistic-altruistic system of values, development of sensitivity to oneself and others, promoting and accepting the expression of positive and negative feelings, and the supportive, protective, and/or corrective mental, physical, societal, and spiritual environment. I am going to represent an example of how I have been practicing these four carative factors on daily nursing basis. Caring Moment Watson (2006) described caring as, “acknowledged as transpersonal, involved with the one caring as well as the one being cared for, and it is mutual” (p 90). According to Watson in the caring moment, this moment can become a part of our life history for each other, and the relationship will form deeper between nurse and patient. The caring moment will initiate a healing ability. Nurses will need to show that they really care for their patients during this historical moment by listening to patient attentively, acknowledge how the patients feel, and make eye contact. Alligood (2010) stated...
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...Watson's Theory of Human Caring Paper NUR 403 Watson's Theory of Human Caring Paper A caring moment occurs whenever a nurse and patient come together with their unique life histories and extraordinary experiences in a human to human transaction. These moments can be verbal or nonverbal. Examples of nonverbal moments can be as simple as a smile or touch for encouragement or more complex such as preparing their body after death for the family to view. Examples of verbal moments can occur when speaking softly to a new born baby, encouraging the patient to express their concerns and fears or simply by telling them goodbye at their time of death. We need to consider that a caring moment can be different for every patient depending on their needs, concerns and emotional status. According to Jean Watson, this human to human connection expands our compassion and caring and keeps alive our common humanity. The major concepts in Watson's theory include the Human being, Health, Environment or society and Nursing. A human being is a valued person to be cared for, respected, nurtured, understood and assisted. Health is considered to be a unity and harmony within the mind, body and soul; health is associated with the degree of congruence between the self as perceived and the self as experienced. Environment or society provides the values that determine how one should behave and what goals one should strive toward. Nursing is referred to as human science of persons and...
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...WATSON'S THEORY 2 Abstract Dr. Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring was released in 1979, and has continued to evolve over the past three decades. Watson's theory describes a philosophical foundation for nursing, which puts caring at the center of practice. It focuses on patient centered care, with emphasis on developing a trusting mutual bond. The caring environment allows for optimal health promotion, growth, empowerment, and disease prevention. The present paper discusses the theory's main concepts, and the significance of the model to nurses, nurse practioners, and health organizations. As well as, how the theory applies to my personal nursing philosophy. WATSON'S THEORY 3 Watson's Theory of Human Caring Many people choose to go into the field of nursing because of one's love to provide care for others. However, with the advancement in medical technology, task-oriented mentalities, heavy patient loads due to nursing shortages, and high paced environments, developing a caring relationship with a patient tends to take a backseat (Watson, 2009). Many organizations have shifted their practices to focus on patient-centered care. St. Luke's Medical center, the organization I work for, believes that caring for the whole person helps create a more personalized healing environment. This allows caregivers to focus on healing the mind, body, and spirit of the patient (Aurora Health Care, 2012). In my profession, I work hard to try and...
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...Comparing Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring And The Neuman Systems Model Jayanna Volm Concordia University Comparing Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring And The Neuman Systems Model Nursing frameworks and conceptual models are imperative as a foundation for nursing practice. These frameworks provide recognition, understanding, and the ability to manage phenomena in which nursing comes into contact. These frameworks also provide the nurse with a systematic approach to interventions and goal attainment. The purpose of this paper is to compare Neuman Systems Model to Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring. According to Alligood and Tomey the Neuman Systems Model is classified as a nursing conceptual model. “Nursing conceptual models are concepts and their relationships that specify a perspective from which to view phenomena specific to the discipline of nursing. Different conceptual models provide various perspectives or frameworks for thinking critically and making nursing decisions” (Alligood & Tomey, 2010, p. 223). The nursing conceptual models are comprehensive and define the metaparadigm according to their framework. Tourville and Ingalls categorize the Neuman Systems Model as a systems model. They define a systems model of nursing as viewing “the person as a multidimensional being who reacts continually to a world of stressors” (2003, Systems Model, para. 1). Systems may be organizations, communities, businesses, or social structures. Within the large...
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...of the theory: • In Watson’s philosophy of human caring she developed carative factors. She uses the word carative to classify nursing and medicine. The carative factors aim at the caring process. There are 10 carative factors each one involving a lived experience from all involved in the relationship, including the nurse. • Watson described a need for transpersonal caring relationship. This is defined as a relationship between the nurse and patient, in which the relationship affects both. The patient and the nurse are both open and accepting of each other. • Watson’s theory emphasized on the caring moment. She describes this as spending uninterrupted time with the patient. 3. Theory’s historical background: The Theory of Human Caring was developed between 1975 and 1979. Watson focused on the relationship between human caring and nursing. Watson’s theory emphasizes human aspects of nursing blended with scientific knowledge. She developed this theory to bring about the importance and focus to nursing as a well-defined profession. Term Definition Applied to Nursing Practice Applied to Nursing Education Applied to Nursing Research Person Unique individual, a holistic being who needs to be cared for, respected, encouraged and valued Practicing Watson’s theory of caring and applying it to nursing practice allows the nurse to understand the patient as a whole and not just recognizing their symptoms of disease or disorder. Practicing Watson’s theory, we are...
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...Watson's Theory of Caring Alice Bennett NUR 403 June 28th 2011 Vicki Grosdidier, MSN Watson's Theory of Caring In this paper I will describe Jean Watson’s background of her theory, and provide concepts of her theory. In addition, I will relate her theory to person, health, nursing, and environment of the caring moment and provide a transpersonal relationship and relate the factors within my experience. Background and concepts of Watson’s Theory Dr. Jean Watson was born in West Virginia and moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1962. She earned a bachelor of science in nursing and psychology while attending the University of Colorado. Jean continued her education and received her master’s degree in psychiatric-mental health nursing. In addition, she earned her Ph.D. in education psychology and counseling. She taught at the University of Colorado School of Nursing and is the founder of the Center for Human Caring in Colorado. She has written many books discussing her philosophy and theory of human caring. Watson calls caring the ethical principle or standard by which curing interventions are measured (Alligood, 2006). Watson’s caring theory evolves in a global state no longer limited to facility settings. Watson’s theory is the development of a caring fluid experience expanding from the person to the community onward to society. The three major elements of Watson’s theory are the carative factors, the transpersonal caring...
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...Jean Watson’s Caring Theory Nurses’ responsibilities to their patients are continually changing with the times. Jean Watson formed the “caring theory” to convey the significance and emphasize nursing as a diverse health profession. Using the Jean Watson’s caring theory enables nurses to maintain their perspective on caring for patients when overwhelmed with increased acuity, responsibility and workload. With the increase of patients and their needs, nurses often replace the caring attitude with an attitude of arrogance and hurried tasks, leaving patients and family members with belief that nurses believe they are here just to perform a job. By applying the Watson caring theory in caring for patients, “it allows nurses to practice the art of caring, to provide compassion to ease patients’ and families’ suffering, and to promote their healing and dignity but it can also contribute to expand the nurse’s own actualization” (Cara, 2003, p 2). Watson believes it is crucial that nurses apply caring values to their practice because it is essentially a byproduct in discovering the meaning of the nursing profession (Theory of Human Caring, n.d.). The foundation of this paper is to expound on the caring theory Jean Watson designed “to bring meaning and focus to nursing as a distinct health profession” (Cara, 2003, p 2). Description of the Theorist In the 1940’s, Jean Watson was born in West Virginia in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1961, graduated from the Lewis Gale...
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...Annotated Bibliography Strickland, D. (1996, July). Applying Watson's Theory for Caring Among Elders. Gerontological Nursing, 22(2). This article was about the elderly living in a retirement center and how volunteers came in and did an experiment using Jean Watson’s theory of caring and also a format called the Laughing spirit listening circles. During this experiment they gathered 6 elderly women to share their stories of the past, just listening and caring about what they had to say. The experiment was a success with the women saying it felt good to have someone just listen to them. In this article they touched on Jean Watsons carative factors and how important it is to use them in a health setting even though it may be difficult as we are always focusing on medical asspects. Sitzman, K. (2002, May). Interbeing and mindfulness: A bridge to understanding Jean Watson's theory of human caring. Nursing Education Perspectives, 23(3), 118. This article is about Jean Watson’s theory of caring and how it compares to different ideas of wholism. It compares the Zen method and Thich Naht Hanh’s concept of interbeing. All 0f the ideas are about focusing on a person as a whole and how we as nurses need to treat our patients with care and respect. The article also talks about how we can teach nursing students the idea behind caring and treating patients as a whole. Caruso, E., Cisar, N., & Pipe, T. (2008, April). Creating a Healing Environment:...
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...The Caring Moment Brittany Seawright NUR/403 June 18, 2012 Stephanie Merck The Caring Moment Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring was developed in 1979 (Cherner, 2007). Watson’s nursing theory was developed to bring meaning and focus to nursing as a diverse health profession (Cherner, 2007). Watson believed caring is what heals and help patients to live (Cherner, 2007). She believed patients should be treated as a whole to promote health. Watson’s theory has transformed the way nurses care for patients today; nurses build caring-interpersonal relationships with patients, treat patients as holistic beings- body, mind, and spirit, and provide care with a positive attitude. Background of Watson’s Theory Jean Watson is from West Virginia, United States (Current Nursing, 2012). Watson obtained her Bachelor’s degree in 1964, Master’s degree in 1966, and her Doctoral degree in 1973 at University of Colorado (Current Nursing, 2012). Watson’s theory “nursing: human science and human care” was published in 1988 (Current Nursing, 2012). According to Alligood (2012), “Watson defines caring as the ethical and moral ideal of nursing that has interpersonal and humanistic qualities” (p. 111). Watson created this theory to carry out significance and attention to nursing as a diverse health profession with unique worth, intelligence, custom, morals, and purpose (Alligood, 2012). Watson believed patients should be cared for in a loving and caring manner. Carative Factors Watson associated...
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...A Pragmatic View of Jean Watson’s Caring Theory Chantal Cara, Ph.D., RN Université de Montréal Faculty of Nursing Goals Provide an overview of Dr. Jean Watson’s caring theory to the nursing community. Facilitate the understanding of her work allowing nurses to readily apply this knowledge within their practice. Objectives Describe the general aspects of Watson’s caring theory. Describe how Watson’s caring theory can be applied to clinical practice. Describe the person through Watson’s caring lens. Describe the person’s health through Watson’s caring lens. Describe nursing through Watson’s caring lens. Key Words: Watson’s caring theory, clinical caritas processes, transpersonal caring relationships, caring occasion, clinical application of Watson’s theory Abstract As most health care systems around the world are undergoing major administrative restructuring, we expose ourselves to the risk of dehumanizing patient care. If we are to consider caring as the core of nursing, nurses will have to make a conscious effort to preserve human caring within their clinical, administrative, educational, and/or research practice. Caring must not be allowed to simply wither away from our heritage. To help preserve this heritage, caring theories such as those from Jean Watson, Madeleine Leininger, Simone Roach, and Anne Boykin are vital. Through this continuing education paper we will learn the essential elements of Watson’s caring theory and explore an example of a clinical...
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