Analysis of Theory of Jean Watson - Coursework Example

Running Head: Analysis of Theory of Jean Watson Analysis of Theory of Jean Watson [Institute’s Analysis of Theory of Jean Watson The paper deals with the detailed analysis of theory of human caring presented by Jean Watson, a famous nursing professional. The theory is one of the most significant and important theories ever developed in nursing studies. The paper presents the theory analysis that is its systematic examination for meaning, logical adequacy, usefulness, generality, parsimony, and testability. The reason behind choosing this particular theory is the fact that this theory makes use of both science and art in its understanding and implementation. This theory does not relate its concept to the physical healing but it also put great emphasis on mental and spiritual healing. The development of theory of human caring has introduced and interlinked new horizons of mind body-spirit healing and nursing. The theory rejects the idea of taking human and their health as objects and accentuates on subjectivity of human health. This theory focuses on the core and most fundamental objective of nursing profession in order to carry out nursing practices with greater efficiency and unshaken dedication. The theory first came into existence in 1975-1979 (Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2004). In these years, publications and ideas related to this theory played an important role in conceptual and comprehensive understanding of carative factors. These factors are the most substantial portion of the theory of human caring. Later on, different concepts became a part of this theory because of extended studies made in this regard. The theory has accepted influence from works of different nursing experts such as Nightingale, Henderson, Gadow, Lazarus, Maslow, Sarte, etc (Fitzpatrick & Wallace, 2005). The theory holds its origin from the concepts and ideas relating to metaphysics. The development of this theory was both inductive and deductive in nature. Deductive in a sense that the theory emerged by dint of vast experience of Jean Watson in profession of nursing and many of the ideas and concepts of this theory holds the basis on first hand experiences of the author. However, the theory appeared to be inductive in the development phase as the research carried out after the emergence of basic ideas of this theory became an important portion of this study. There are three most basic concepts of this theory. First factor is the carative favors, the second is the transpersonal caring relationship with regard to the nursing profession, and the third factor is the caring moment in any nursing situation or setup. Jean Watson regards this theory as the combination of both art and science. It is the fundamental conception that caring is basic forte of all humanitarian persons, and the theory is all about utilizing the art and science of this human caring orientation to nursing practices. Carative factors, according to the theory are the key to understand the core of nursing. The term carative refers to the formal curative factors in medicine. These carative factors make efforts to regard the human endeavor in nursing profession, and the behind the curtain life and first hand experiences of patients the nurses do serve. The carative factors comprises of ten basic elements. These elements include humanitarian approach or the altruistic value system, the element of faith and hope in nursing setup, the relation of help, trust, and human caring, showing good or bad feelings with respect to any nursing situation, and transpersonal teaching and learning capabilities. It also includes an environment that supports, protects, and/or heals the mental, physical, and spiritual problems of patients that are the part of any nursing atmosphere, need of human assistance, the experiential, philosophical, and spiritual powers, or pulls. With the development of this theory the conceptualization of clinical caritas emerged that have replaced the forcing carative factors. The term caritas has its origination from the Greek word meaning cherish and giving utmost attention. Clinical Caritas includes practicing love, kindness, and composure with respect to nursing, valid, and authentic presence of nurses and ability to sustain the belief system. In addition, few more, such as subjective life for self and for the patient under care, cultivating nursing practices that are non-egotist, sensitive and compassionate, development and sustainability of a helping cum trusting, authentic relation between nurse and the people under care, etc (Masters, 2005). The second detrimental factor in this theory is the transpersonal caring relationship, a particular relationship between the nurses and the one cared for that is dependent on the moral and ethical commitment of a nursing professional towards protection and enhancement of dignity of human beings and raising the selves (Watson, 1999). The caring soul of a nurse protects the moral status of a person from becoming an object by preserving the regard and respect for human beings. This relationship defines the particular behavior that makes a nursing professional not to go for objective consideration by showing care for the person and its health conditions. The caring soul of a nurse is mandatory for the relationship between the people in a nursing and healthcare setup. This factor throws light on the subjectivity of all the people involved in nursing environments both in a unique and combined manner. The term transpersonal implies to the nursing practitioners that do not care about their ego, and develop and sustain mental and spiritual relationship with the patients in order to increase comfort in the healing process (Rice, 2006). The third important factor in this theory is the caring occasion or the caring moment. This term refers to the time or instant when the nursing professional and other people from nursing setup come across in such a manner that a moment for care process establishes. Every person in the nursing setup has its own unique space that makes it possible to make a caring moment or occasion happen. In this theory, this personal space or field links to the person mind set or integrality of experience comprising of emotions, feelings of body, ideas, beliefs, aims, expectations, assumptions, and intentions of mind that holds its basis on the past, present, and hopes from future. The caring occasion does not bear fruits for the patients or people under care, but also for the nurses and care practitioners as well. The theory accentuates on the fact that a nurse should also have enough knowledge about its own feelings and presence in a caring setup. In addition, the caring moment inspires and affects all the people involved giving rise to a caring relationship between them. The caring moment appears to be transpersonal when it allows all the people present in the caring setup to open up and develop a higher degree of mutual comfort. Researchers have showed that the theory of human caring has provided significant and comprehensive understanding for its ideas and conceptualizations. The theory holds the clinical validation in many of the nursing setups such as critical care units, pediatric units, neonatal ICUs etc. However, the adequacy of this theory is under criticism because a person has to experience the situations stated in this theory in order to fully understand and recognize the ideas behind it. The over-all approach of this theory is predictive in nature however; many of the critics believe that its predictive potential is weak. The reason behind is the fact that it is not necessary that the human caring situation is always present in any nursing or caring occasion, moreover even if this situation is present, a subjective caring occasion may not always occur Another important point in this regard is the fact that this theory utilizes a number of disciplines and departments in making of this theory. It can be disadvantageous in this respect as in order to fully understand the concepts and ideas of this theory one has to have some basic knowledge of other disciplines as well. However, this knack is very beneficial when it comes to minimized logical inadequacies. The widespread utilization of valid and authentic work from other disciplines enables the theory to be more logically adequate as compared to other contemporary theories. The generalized impression of this theory among nursing professional and experts is positive when it comes to logical adequacy. Most of the content of this theory relates to its basic ideas and concepts. Moreover, the theory is still under development that has resulted in enhancement and expansion of this theory with respect to different situations related to nursing practices. However, some factors affect the adequacy of this theory. The inclusion of other departments and disciplines in conceptualization of this theory results in deviation of this theory from the ideal concepts of centrality of caring in nursing because other disciplines do have caring perspective as well. The other point is the inability to predict and explain this theory; experts argue that how the implementation of this theory would is possible when the concepts are not completely understandable. The theory of human caring has widespread usage when it comes to practical nursing scenarios. One of the most important uses of this theory in nursing practice is that fact that it holds significant applications in situations related to nursing care and concern. Clinical Carative factors of this theory play an important role in efficient and effective nursing all around the world. These concepts enable nurses to understand and recognize the caring moment that in turn help them greatly in carrying out nursing practices. The theory enables the nurses to realize that the holding respect for others’ decisions and choices is one of the major factors that are detrimental for successful nursing career. Understanding of this theory makes nurses not to consider human beings and their health as objects by viewing people from the perspective of theorist’s caring lens. All these factors nourishes a nurse’s personal commitment, moral values, dedication towards human dignity, and abilities to use clinical caritas effectively that results in enhancement and protection of human health, integrity, and self respect. All these results promote patients to develop the understanding, differences, and relation of disease and its treatment. Although a significant amount of new ideas and data is now a part of the original theory of human caring that may result in difficulty or trouble for nursing practitioners in order to understand it completely (Tomey & Alligood, 2005). The other point is the general and diverse approach of this theory that can discourage nurses to absorb the underlying objective of this theory. However, the theory still is much parsimonious as the basic ten factors for the nurses to implement in their practices are still the same. Moreover, the working assumptions, predictions, and the considerations are still the same that help in understanding and framing the figure of the science and art of caring (McEwen & Wills, 2007). There is no match to the theory of caring in all the studies made with regard to nursing and caretaking practices. The theory is widely applicable to every perspective of caretaking in nursing practices. The reason behind this generalized application is the fact that the theory is never complete; for last twenty years results of studies made on different nursing situations appeared to be a part of this theory and the process never ended. This may make the theory a bit general and discourage many nursing professionals to put it into their practices. The theory of human caring is testable in an obvious manner (Fawcett, 1993). Watson did not follow the conventional modes of theories that never go beyond the books or the content. Most of the ideas in this theory are the results of Watsons firsthand experience. In addition, Jean Watson has devised a systematic methodology in order to grab complete and comprehensive understanding of the ideas and concepts discussed in the theory. This has resulted in availability of huge empirical data in order to testify the theory of human caring. Conclusively, the paper has discussed some of the significant aspects of the theory of Jean Watson. The paper has identified and analyzed different explanations related to the topic; however, it is anticipation that future researches in this regard will allow a more comprehensive and updated understanding of the impact. It is an expectation that the paper will be beneficial for students, teachers, and professionals in better understanding of the topic. References Fawcett, J. (1993). Analysis and evaluation of nursing theories. F.A. Davis Co. Fitzpatrick, J. J., & Wallace, M. (2005). Encyclopedia of Nursing Research. Springer Publishing Company. Masters, K. (2005). Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2007). Theoretical basis for nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Rice, R. (2006). Home care nursing practice: concepts and application. Elsevier Health Sciences. Sitzman, K., & Eichelberger, L. W. (2004). Understanding the work of nurse theorists: a creative beginning. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Tomey, A. M., & Alligood, M. R. (2005). Nursing Theorists and Their Work. Elsevier Health Sciences. Watson, J. (1999). Nursing: human science and human care : a theory of nursing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More