Nursing Files
Theories
Watson's Philosophy and Science of
Caring
Introduction
- Theorist - Jean Watson was born in West Virginia,
US
- Educated: BSN, University of
Colorado, 1964, MS, University of Colorado, 1966, PhD, University of
Colorado, 1973
- Distinguished Professor of Nursing
and Chair in Caring Science at the University of Colorado Health Sciences
Center.
- Fellow of the American Academy of
Nursing.
- Dean of Nursing at the University
Health Sciences Center and President of the National League for Nursing
- Undergraduate and graduate degrees
in nursing and psychiatric-mental health nursing and PhD in educational
psychology and counseling.
- Six (6) Honorary Doctoral Degrees.
- Research has been in the area of
human caring and loss.
- In 1988, her theory was published
in “nursing: human science and human care”.
The seven assumptions
1. Caring can be
effectively demonstrated and practiced only interpersonally.
2. Caring consists of
carative factors that result in the satisfaction of certain human needs.
3. Effective caring
promotes health and individual or family growth.
4. Caring responses
accept person not only as he or she is now but as what he or she may become.
5. A caring
environment is one that offers the development of potential while allowing the
person to choose the best action for himself or herself at a given point in
time.
6. Caring is more “
healthogenic” than is curing. A science of caring is complementary to the
science of curing.
7. The practice of
caring is central to nursing.
The ten primary carative factors
1. The formation of a
humanistic- altruistic system of values.
2. The installation of
faith-hope.
3. The cultivation of
sensitivity to one’s self and to others.
4. The development of
a helping-trust relationship
5. The promotion and
acceptance of the expression of positive and negative feelings.
6. The systematic use
of the scientific problem-solving method for decision making
7. The promotion of
interpersonal teaching-learning.
8. The provision for a
supportive, protective and /or corrective mental, physical, socio-cultural and
spiritual environment.
9. Assistance with the
gratification of human needs.
10.The allowance for
existential-phenomenological forces.
The first three carative factors form
the “philosophical foundation” for the science of caring. The remaining seven
carative factors spring from the foundation laid by these first three.
1. The formation of a humanistic-
altruistic system of values
- Begins developmentally at an early
age with values shared with the parents.
- Mediated through ones own life
experiences, the learning one gains and exposure to the humanities.
- Is perceived as necessary to the
nurse’s own maturation which then promotes altruistic behavior towards
others.
2. Faith-hope
- Is essential to both the carative
and the curative processes.
- When modern science has nothing
further to offer the person, the nurse can continue to use faith-hope to
provide a sense of well-being through beliefs which are meaningful to the
individual.
3. Cultivation of sensitivity to
one’s self and to others
- Explores the need of the nurse to
begin to feel an emotion as it presents itself.
- Development of one’s own feeling
is needed to interact genuinely and sensitively with others.
- Striving to become sensitive,
makes the nurse more authentic, which encourages self-growth and
self-actualization, in both the nurse and those with whom the nurse
interacts.
- The nurses promote health and
higher level functioning only when they form person to person
relationship.
4. Establishing a helping-trust
relationship
- Strongest tool is the mode of
communication, which establishes rapport and caring.
- Characteristics needed to in the
helping-trust relationship are:
- Congruence
- Empathy
- Warmth
- Communication includes verbal,
nonverbal and listening in a manner which connotes empathetic
understanding.
5. The expression of feelings,
both positive and negative
- “Feelings alter thoughts and
behavior, and they need to be considered and allowed for in a caring
relationship”.
- Awareness of the feelings helps to
understand the behavior it engenders.
6. The systematic use of the
scientific problem-solving method for decision making
- The scientific problem- solving
method is the only method that allows for control and prediction, and that
permits self-correction.
- The science of caring should not
be always neutral and objective.
7. Promotion of interpersonal
teaching-learning
- The caring nurse must focus on the
learning process as much as the teaching process.
- Understanding the person’s
perception of the situation assist the nurse to prepare a cognitive plan.
8. Provision for a supportive,
protective and /or corrective mental, physical, socio-cultural and spiritual
environment
- Watson divides these into eternal
and internal variables, which the nurse manipulates in order to provide
support and protection for the person’s mental and physical well-being.
- The external and internal
environments are interdependent.
- Nurse must provide comfort,
privacy and safety as a part of this carative factor.
9. Assistance with the gratification of
human needs
- It is based on a hierarchy of need
similar to that of the Maslow’s.
- Each need is equally important for
quality nursing care and the promotion of optimal health.
- All the needs deserve to be
attended to and valued.
Watson’s ordering of needs
- Lower order needs (biophysical
needs)
- The need for food and fluid
- The need for elimination
- The need for ventilation
- Lower order needs (psychophysical
needs)
- The need for activity-inactivity
- The need for sexuality
- Higher order needs (psychosocial
needs)
- The need for achievement
- The need for affiliation
- Higher order need
(intrapersonal-interpersonal need)
- The need for self-actualization
10. Allowance for
existential-phenomenological forces
- Phenomenology is a way of
understanding people from the way things appear to them, from their frame
of reference.
- Existential psychology is the
study of human existence using phenomenological analysis.
- This factor helps the nurse to
reconcile and mediate the incongruity of viewing the person holistically
while at the same time attending to the hierarchical ordering of needs.
- Thus the nurse assists the person
to find the strength or courage to confront life or death.
Watson’s theory and the four major concepts
1. Human being
- Human being refers to “….. a
valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, respected,
nurtured, understood and assisted; in general a philosophical view of a
person as a fully functional integrated self. He, human is viewed as
greater than and different from, the sum of his or her parts”.
2. Health
- Watson adds the following three elements to WHO definition of health:
- A high level of overall physical,
mental and social functioning
- A general adaptive-maintenance
level of daily functioning
- The absence of illness (or the
presence of efforts that leads its absence)
3.
Environment/society
- According to Watson, caring (and
nursing) has existed in every society.
- A caring attitude is not
transmitted from generation to generation.
- It is transmitted by the culture
of the profession as a unique way of coping with its environment.
4.
Nursing
- “Nursing is concerned with promoting
health, preventing illness, caring for the sick and restoring health”.
- It focuses on health promotion and
treatment of disease. She believes that holistic health care is central to
the practice of caring in nursing.
- She defines nursing as…..
“a human science of persons and
human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional,
personal, scientific, esthetic and ethical human transactions”.
Watson’s theory and nursing process
- Nursing process contains the same
steps as the scientific research process. They both try to solve a
problem. Both provide a framework for decision making.
1.
Assessment
- Involves observation,
identification and review of the problem; use of applicable knowledge in
literature.
- Also includes conceptual knowledge
for the formulation and conceptualization of framework.
- Includes the formulation of
hypothesis; defining variables that will be examined in solving the
problem.
2. Plan
- It helps to determine how
variables would be examined or measured; includes a conceptual approach or
design for problem solving. It determines what data would be collected and
how on whom.
3.
Intervention
- It is the direct action and
implementation of the plan.
- It includes the collection of the
data.
4.
Evaluation
- Analysis of the data as well as
the examination of the effects of interventions based on the data.
- Includes the interpretation of the
results, the degree to which positive outcome has occurred and whether the
result can be generalized.
- It may also generate additional
hypothesis or may even lead to the generation of a nursing theory.
Watson’s theory and the characteristic of a theory
1. Logical in nature.
2. Relatively simple
3. Generelizable
4. Based on
phenomenological studies that generally ask questions rather than state
hypotheses.
5. Can be used to
guide and improve practice.
6. Supported by the
theoretical work of numerous humanists, philosophers, developmentalists and
psychologists.
Strengths
- This theory places client in the
context of the family, the community and the culture.
- It places the client as the focus
of practice rather than the technology.
Limitations
- Biophysical needs of the
individual are given less important.
- The ten caratiive factors
primarily delineate the psychosocial needs of the person.
- Needs further research to apply in
practice.
Research related to Watson’s theory
The effectiveness of Watson's Caring
Model on the quality of life and blood pressure of patients with hypertension.
J Adv Nurs. 2003 Jan;41(2):130-9.
- This study demonstrated a
relationship between care given according to Watson's Caring model and
increased quality of life of the patients with hypertension. Further, in
those patients for whom the caring model was practised, there was a
relationship between the Caring model and a decrease in patient's blood
pressure. The Watson Caring Model is recommended as a guide to nursing
patients with hypertension, as one means of decreasing blood pressure and
increase in quality of life.
Martin, L. S. (1991). Using Watson’s
theory to explore the dimensions of adult polycystic kidney disease . ANNA
Journal, 18, 403-406 .
Mullaney, J. A. B. (2000). The
lived experience of using Watson’s actual caring occasions to treat depressed
women . Journal of Holistic Nursing, 18(2), 129-142
Martin, L. S. (1991). Using Watson’s
theory to explore the dimensions of adult polycystic kidney disease . ANNA
Journal, 18, 403-406
Conclusion
- Watson provides many useful
concepts for the practice of nursing.
- She ties together many theories
commonly used in nursing education.
- The detailed descriptions of the
carative factors can give guidance to those who wish to employ them in
practice or research.
References
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(1997) , Theoretical Nursing : Development & Progress 3rd ed.
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Carol (2001)The Art & Science Of Nursing Care 4th ed.
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nursing, standard and practice, 2nd edition, Thomson, NY, 2002.
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