The Concept of Health and Illness in Two Nursing Theories - Essay Example

The Concept of Health and Illness in Two Nursing Theories Health is defined in by health care professionals and other ities in the field as the state of absence or presence of injury or illness on a human body whether physical, mental or spiritual. However, health can also be used in many other different contexts such as in family, community, population and environmental health. All of which require at least a basic delineation of health and illness as the two almost always come together when discussed (Bultemeier et al., 1998). Most nursing theories are based in one of the core concepts of health and illness where the whole gamut of well-being and caring originate. This is fundamental since nursing theories are derived from models comprised of the following components: the person or self, environment, health and nursing. These four metaparadigm concepts can be observed in all nursing models and forms the framework from which each theory as a whole functions (Rogers, 1989). This paper aims to evaluate the definitions of the concept of health and illness in two nursing theories namely, Margaret Newman's "Health as Expanding Consciousness" and Martha Roger's "Science of Unitary Human Beings." "Health as Expanding Consciousness" by Margaret Newman Margaret Newman's systems model recognizes the person as a comprehensive system. Within this system are constituent elements including the physiological factor, psychological factor, sociological factor, spiritual factor and developmental factor which according to her are in a complex interrelationship (Newman, 1992). With regards to health, Margaret Newman maintains that health is the manifestation of the realm of consciousness. Consciousness is defined as the capability of the human system to gather and process information regarding the self and the environment. However, according to Newman, consciousness is not limited to the cognitive and affective faculties that characterize the basic notion of consciousness but also includes the dynamism of the whole living system (Newman, 1997). The consciousness of the system, according to Newman, is the pattern of information that is connected and part of the larger unbroken pattern which is the expanding universe. An irregularity of the pattern of the person and the environment as a whole implies occurrence of illness and the opposite implies health (Newman, 1992). "Science of Unitary Beings" by Martha Rogers Martha Rogers's system model considers the person or individual as a unit or unified whole which is constantly in direct interaction with the surrounding environment. According to her, health and illness are the products and manifestations of the human life process. She gives a scientific model for nursing that is based on concept of health as the systematic function of the physical body and illness as the state of dysfunction of the components of the human life processes (Rogers, 1975) Health is seen by Martha Rogers as the integration of the physicochemical properties of life that is constant interaction with the immediate environment which are also imminent in the energy fields inherent in the two areas. The energy field that constitutes the person's or the individual's complex systems are in direct contact with the energy field of the environment which may be assigned as the surrounding living and non-living forms. Therefore, the energy fields that is present in this larger system is made up of the living and the non-living forms of the person and the environment. The open mode of the person and environment energy fields promotes an interchange of energy between the two which leads to the kind of nature or state of the system classified into either health or illness (Rogers, 1989). Health Concepts Comparison and Analysis The main point of comparison between Newman's and Rogers' use of the concept of health in their respective theories arises in the nature and impact of the perception of constitution of the person. The first similarity lies in the consideration of the person's physical and metaphysical properties as a whole and complex system. They both emphasized the importance of the person as a unit functioning in its own with all the requirements of a balanced and structured system. However, a stark difference is noted in the presentation of the various components of the individual wherein Newman considered the four factors mentioned above as the basic elements while Rogers dwelt on these as a whole scientific description of the human body and person as a unitary being (Rogers, 1975; Newman, 1997). The second similarity lies with the claim of the interconnection between the person and the environment. The theories used the concept of health as the state of harmonious interaction between the person and the environment. However, in this parallel avenue also lies the difference of the mode or nature of interaction. Newman suggests that this exists in the form of a continuous pattern of health as consciousness that is connected and part of the larger universe while Rogers claims that the health is characterized by the energy fields that each person and environment constitutes (Rogers, 1989; Newman, 1992). Newman portrays health as consciousness in continuous pattern with the universe while Rogers views health as the interaction between two energy fields. The former exudes a scheme wherein there is continuity or flow in the uniform entity that is consciousness and the universe embodied in the pattern while the latter creates a picture of a dynamic interaction between two entities which are the living and non-living forms (Rogers, 1975; Newman, 1997). An analysis of the first use of the health concept entails the acceptance of the premise that consciousness has outer fringes that is complementary to the universe that enables them to gain connection and form a pattern. On the other hand, the second use leads one to perceive a sort of polar union of the person energy field and the environment energy field (Rogers, 1989; Newman, 1992). In summary, both the Newman and Roger theories capitalized on the nature and structure of the person as a whole in order to have a clearer definition of health and illness. However, they differed in the presentation of the way the interaction between the environment results to health or illness. Newman's concept of health is a continuous pattern while Rogers' is a dynamic interaction between two energy fields (Rogers, 1975; Newman, 1997). Although both agree that the concept of health transcends that of the physical attributes of the person, they differ with the manner in which health or illness results as dictated with the respective influence of the person's interaction with the environment but both arrived at the same conclusion, nonetheless. Earned Comments Points Possible Points Introduction 5 Discussion 60 Conclusion 10 Organization/Presentation /Word Count 10 Grammar/Spelling 15 Total Works Cited Bultemeier, K., Gunther, M., Daily, J. S., Maupin, J. S. Murray, C. A., Satterly, M. C., Schnell, D. L., & Wallace, T. L. (1998). Martha E. Rogers: Unitary human beings. In A. M. Tomey, & M. R. Alligood (Eds.), Nursing theorists and their work (4th ed., pp. 207-226). St. Louis: Mosby. Newman, M. A. (1992). Prevailing paradigms in nursing. Nursing Outlook, 40(1), 10-14. Newman, M. A. (1997). Experiencing the whole. Advances in Nursing Science, 20(1), 34-39. Rogers, M. E. (1989). Nursing: A Science of unitary human beings. In J. P. Riehl-Sisca (Ed.), Conceptual models for nursing practice (3rd. ed., pp. 181-188). Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange. Rogers, M. E. (1975). Nursing is coming of age. American Journal of Nursing, 75(10),1834-1843, 1859. Read More