Jean Watson’s Theory Of Human Caring

By Author: Henry Ford
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Currently, there are tremendous changes in the nursing field world wide that require nurses to increase their working capacity. The great responsibilities do not stop the expectations that nurses are expected to portray as stipulated by Watson’s theory. Nurses ought to help their patients despite the greater complexities of this age in the best way as possible especially as stipulated by Watson. This paper will therefore reflect on the background, the concept of Jean Watson’s Caring Theory and its implication in the field of nursing.

Background of the theory
The theory came about as a result of the desire of bringing a new definition and dignity to the field of nursing and care give to patients. It was published in1979 for the first time. The theory received several criticisms as well as support. Those who support it have seen the fruits of the theory. His concepts came from his own personal as well as professional experiences. His concepts were inducted from three fields; Clinical, empirical and they also comprised his intellectual and background experiences. His earlier concepts came from his norms and values ...
... as well as his beliefs concerning life. He could ask himself such question as, what humanity is all about and also what caring means. He also asked himself the meaning of healing, the meaning of developing knowledge and skills that would be essential in people’s live (Marckx, 1995). He finally asked himself the living philosophical idea that enables individuals to venture into nursing and the definition of life in two categories; health and illness.

Several ideas about life, death and health as well as the two issues of caring and healing were part of the things that led him to come up with his theory. His thirst increased especially basing on the commitment he had in his profession and the role and mission of the career of nursing. The ethical connection that exists between the society and nursing as a way of promoting care, Motivated him also to come up with the theory. Nursing is a field that tries to bring good health to the society and so nursing works hand in hand with the society to bring an end to problems like illness, death as well as curbing any effects which members of the society experience. This then was the basis of his theory.

The Carative factors:
These factors were created in 1979 so as to help in provision of a framework that would act as a basis of rating good nursing and also help individual understand what nursing is all about. Currently, the concept is termed as clinical caritas. This concept clearly explains the attributes and values that nursing career ought to have (Foster, 2006). The practices and knowledge that every nurse should possess geared to help in human care. Such factors include kindness, courtecsy gentleness though firm when necessary. Skills of problem solving are also an important factor. A nurse is expected to portray qualities of problem solving at all times and to different patients basing on the nature of the problem. This ability will both be obtained from one’s experience and values. Skills that one achieves in the training process should be applicable in this issue of problem solving.

Transpersonal Caring Relationship
This concept concentrates on the care that a nurse should attribute to a patient by trying to study his or her inner feelings. It reaches beyond the physical and also calls upon the sacrifice of the ego or self in a nurse for him or her to be in the world of the patient. It calls for individuals to be authentic beings at that particular time of nursing a patient (Watson, 1999).

Caring occasion –Caring Moment
In this concept she says that care comes about when a nurse through a human to human transaction, having different histories and fields try to reach out to as strange individual, the patient. The caring moment involves tough choices that have to be made by both parties. The patient has a role to play too. For instance when the nurse gives him or her hope of healing, his or her beliefs play a role of bringing healing to him. The experience at that moment is also a good memory to both sides. When a patient is well treated, they always remember the good memories and so is it to the nurse who sees a patient recover.

Carative Factors
These factors were viewed as the important aspects of caring in the field of nursing. These aspects were seen to be so essential that if nurses were not incorporating them, then theirs was not professional nursing. Without these factors nurses then were viewed merely as professionals who only engage in the work as a way of earning a living. The carative factors were ten and some of them are here below;

Humanistic: altruistic system of values
This actor stipulates that caring is a human value that is appreciated worldwide. There are human values that portray the caring aspect in the lives of individuals. Some of these aspects include kindness, sympathy and empathy. Humanity needs the expression of love to oneself as well as to others in the society. These factors are inculcated to individual’s way back when they are still young. In order for individuals to keep on upholding them, culture and beliefs that one attains help them to be implanted in the life of an individual. On the other hand altruistic values refer to those which an individual obtain by committing oneself to give in order to receive. Human altruistic values therefore form a basis of human caring and thus for professionals they will be able to provide adequate care to suffering humanity. It therefore forms the most important basis in the science as well as ethics of caring (Watson, 1997).

Enabling and Sustaining Faith and Hope
Faith is an important factor in the field of medicine for both the sick and the professional or a nurse for that matter. Many examples of healing show that inspiration was a key factor that contributes to healing. In fact, medicine is secondary while prayers and inspirations are on the fore front. In this factor it is good to learn to respect the beliefs of the patients since they significantly affect their healing process (Watson, 1999). . As much as medicine is able to heal but healing is also psychological therefore a nurse should be able to uphold faith and hope in the patient he or she is nursing. Sometimes the medics might render a condition of a patient hopeless but just by the encouragement of a nurse and instilling of hope to the patient, some may end up recovering. A nurse then should compliment the work of the doctor to help increase the speed of healing

Sensitivity to self and other
The aspect of feeling is part and parcel of humanity. In order to put oneself in other people’s shoes is what is needed of a nurse. Recognition of one’s feelings will be a way of reaching to others feelings too. Life experiences help people develop feelings. This is an attribute that comes about when people learn to look into one and discover both painful as well as happy feelings. An effective nurse should be in a position to approach the world by the patient’s perspective (Smith, s2004). It is by being sensitive that nurses can be able to encourage self-development and self-actualization. If nurses are not sensitive, patients may not be able to open up and express their feelings which might have been a way out to be helped. This factor is very important without which nursing as a profession will be meaningless. Nurses in the current hospitals are highly expected to practice this aspect because it has helped many people who have done so.
Engaging in creative, individualized, problem-solving caring process
This is an important factor also as it involves the ability of a nurse to solve the problems of the patients. He or she should be able to study the environment one’s he enters the room. Every patient demands a different way of handling his or her own problem it therefore calls for dynamism in the life of a nurse so as to be able to treat each problem in its own specific way (Smith, 2004). It calls for one to exercise knowledge obtained in the profession, instincts and spiritual knowledge help a lot in this.

Personal Experience
Basing on my experience in the field of nursing, it is noticeable that this theory holds water. There is a great connection between healing and the kind of care a patient receives (Smith, 2004). Many at times of deaths have occurred as a result of hopelessness that an individual underwent as a result of negative reports they got from their doctors. Some who get healed from pathetic conditions normally give testimonies concerning the power of faith instilled to them by the nurses who took care of them. Healing has been psychological in many patients and the role that nurses do seem to be of greater impact than eve the medication that the patients receive. The interactive nature of a nurse has also helped many basing on the experiences in the field of nursing. People end up opening up their problems and thus obtain solutions to their problems from those nurses who have embarrasses Watson’s theory. Unfortunately still, there are a number of people who engage in nursing as a career thus act as a source of income. Therefore it has led to many deaths due to brutal treatment that patients go through.
Upholding this theory does not only help a nurse to be compassionate but also to find joy in his career. It also helps the nurse to achieve self actualization that comes from being able to elevate humanity. This is one of the few theories which do not only consider the one given but also the one who is offering the service. Application of these concepts is not only essential to promotion of health but also to the health of the nurses. Many organizations have applied this theory in the impartation of knowledge to their students and have born good results (Pilkington, 2005). A good example is university of Colorado- center for caring. It is found in its curriculum nowadays. It has also formed a basis of other theories such as Hospice and Geriatrics theory. This theory has been a contributing factor to rare cases of deaths and improved health care. Human care is an important factor that many researchers have shown to contribute to improved health care.

Assumptions
The theory has several assumptions some of these are:
Care and love is assumed to consist of primal and the totality of universal energy. It also assumes that humanity needs the ultimate practice care to the human race and should be interpersonal endeavor. It also assumes that it is vital for nurses first to be sensitive to themselves in health care before extending their help to the patients. Their dignity should be paramount to that of the patients.
In the factors that are attributed to this theory, one of them is the fact that care is the duty of nursing and thus is a unifying factor of the career. It also assumes that the contribution that a nurse gives to the society is measured by her ability to effectively administer care as stipulated by the theory. It also assumes that the medical field has neglected the caring aspect of medics and that the caring ideology is at stake in the field of medicine. It also assumes that care environment attributes much of the healing process and thus an individual is then left with the choice of choosing to have health or not (Foster, 2006). There is also an assumption that science of caring compliments the science of caring. It also assumes that health care system has neglected human care. World wide view of nursing is an important aspect too in the assumptions of the theory. It stipulates that every part of the world should put more emphasis on the role of care in humanity as a basis of healing. Transpersonal view emphasise on the togetherness that exist in life. It shows the connective in the society, community as well as the state.

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