The Major Concepts of Caring Theory by Watson - Assignment Example

? Jean Watson's Theory of Caring Jean Watson's Theory of Caring Jean Watson’s theory of caring is one of the most important nursing theories evolved out during the latter part of twentieth century. It was actually developed in its full shape in 1979 after a lengthy period of studies and researches. The core of this theory is the concepts of nursing care in terms of human elements and scientific knowledge. Until the evolution of this theory, the concepts of nursing profession were not defined properly. Watson actually tried to bring more meaning and recognition to nursing profession with the help of this theory. “J. Watson's caring theory addresses caring relationships among humans and the deep experiences of life itself. Caring is a universal phenomenon, which is likely to be perceived differently by patients and nurses if they come from different cultural backgrounds” (Suliman et al., 2009, p.293). It should be noted that in many of the hospitals in America and in European countries, foreigners are working in the nursing profession. This is because of the manpower shortages in these countries. Thus, it is quite possible that in America like countries both the patients and the nurses could be from different cultures. Even though caring has only one meaning in all the cultures, it can be perceived differently by people from different cultures. In other words, the needs of an American patient and that of an Indian patient suffering from same disease could be different. In America, patients expect lot more from the nurses. It is the duty of the nurses to rise to the occasion and live up to the expectations of each patient. Watson’s caring theory provides insights about the concepts of caring. “According to Watson, this theory is an attempt to find and deepen the language specific to nurse caring relations and its many meanings” (Rosenberg, 2006, p.53) The origin of this theory can be found in human science and metaphysics. It should be noted that human science is the base upon which all the healthcare theories were developed. “Watson described nursing as a human science of persons and human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional, personal, scientific, aesthetic, and ethical human care transactions” (McCance et al., 1999, p.1390). In short, Watson was successful in defining nursing profession in a scientific way. Until the evolution of this theory, nurses were unaware of the needs of the patients and they cared the patients based on their instincts and wisdom. This theory is helpful for the nurses to know the needs of the patients more and formulating suitable caring strategies for them. This paper analyses the concepts of Watson's theory in terms of actual nurse/patient interaction. Concepts of Watson’s theory The major concepts of Watson’s caring theory can be summarised as follows; Caring can be effectively demonstrated and practiced only interpersonally Caring consists of carative factors that result in the satisfaction of certain human needs. Effective caring promotes health and individual or family growth. Caring responses accept person not only as he or she is now but as what he or she may become. 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. Caring is more “ healthogenic” than is curing. A science of caring is complementary to the science of curing. The practice of caring is central to nursing (Jean Watson's Philosophy of Nursing, 2012) Watson believed that “Caring” is an endorsement of professional nurses identity and Medicine’s identity is that of “caring”. In Florence Nightingale’s words, “It is the surgeon who saves a person’s life …….it is the nurse who helps this person live” (Overview of Jean Watson’s Theory, n.d., p.1). Caring is as important as surgery or other medical procedures. It is a fact that the doctors are responsible for complex medical procedures and prescription of medicines. At the same time, nurses are responsible for making sure that the prescribed medicines were taken by the patients. In other words, doctors are only the care instructors whereas the nurses are the real care providers. It is just like the construction of a building. Engineers or the architects are the designers and supervisors of the construction works whereas the actual construction works are done by masons and labours. It is impossible for an engineer to construct a building without the services from the masons and labours. Same way, it is impossible for the doctors to ensure safe recovery of the patients without the services of nurses. Watson describes nursing as a human science, with the major focus being the process of human care for individuals, families and groups. The goal of nursing within Watson's theory centres around helping people to gain a higher degree of harmony within the mind, body and soul. She maintains that this goal is achieved through caring transactions (McCance et al., 1999, p.1389) Body, mind and soul are the three major components of every living human. All these three components are interconnected each other. In other words, the problems of the body can cause damage to the mind as well as the soul. Same way, the problems of the mind can cause problems to the body as well as the soul. A nurse should recognizes these facts and provide enough care to all these three components simultaneously to ensure the speedy recovery of the patient. Suppose a patient is admitted in the hospital because of cancer disease. The patient could be more worried about the possibility of his anticipated death and life after death. He may not be much worried about the pain and other inconveniences developed as a result of the disease. Imagine a situation in which a nurse is providing only the medication to that patient and avoid his needs for mental comfort. His condition could be worsened as time goes on even if the doctor/nurse provides suitable medicines to him. Modern studies have proved that plenty of cancer patients defeated their disease with the help of mental strength. American Cyclist Lance Armstrong and Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh were the latest and living examples who proved the essentiality of mental power in overcoming cancer disease. On the other hand, if the nurse is able to provide little bit counselling to that patient, his conditions could be improved a lot. In short, treatment is necessary for mind as well as soul in case of patients with chronic physical diseases. This fact is underlined in the theory of caring by Watson. Major theory assumptions related to person, health, nursing & environment in the context of the caring moment According to Watson, the nurse’s role is to: Establish a caring relationship with patients; Treat patients as holistic beings (body, mind and spirit); Display unconditional acceptance; Treat patients with a positive regard; Display unconditional acceptance; Promote health through knowledge and intervention; Spend uninterrupted time with patients: “caring moments” (Overview of Jean Watson’s Theory, n.d., p.1) From the above description, it is evident that nursing profession is a complex one. Many people have the illusion that nursing profession is comparatively and easy and simple profession. However, only the nurses know the difficulties involved in their profession. The needs of a patient are entirely different from the needs of another patient because of the differences in their diseases. Same way, it is not necessary that all the patients may have same level of mental strength to tolerate with the physical diseases. It is the duty of the nurses to provide enough courage and strength to mentally weak patients through counseling. Moreover, the needs of the patients could be irritating at times. There are plenty of patients who call nurses even for silly matters. It is quite possible that nurses may face sexual harassments from the patients. In all such circumstances, it is the duty of the nurses to behave diplomatically and wisely to avoid the troubles. Watson believed that the sight of nurse should be a pleasant one for the patients. In other words, as soon as the patient sees a nurse, a feeling of confidence and expectation should be generated in the mind of the patient. Such feeling can be developed only if the nurse’s relationship with the patient is a positive one. Otherwise the sight of a nurse could be an irritating one for the patients. In short, nurses should never present threatening moments to the patients. They should provide love and care judiciously to the patients so that the patient’s relationship with the nurse would be strengthened. How Watson's carative factors were utilized in the transpersonal relationship? Watson was successful in formulating around 10 carative factors for developing transpersonal relationships. The installation of faith-hope, The development of a helping-trust relationship, The promotion and acceptance of the expression of positive and negative feelings, The systematic use of the scientific problem-solving method for decision making etc are some of them (Jean Watson's Philosophy of Nursing, 2012). The patient should develop faith in the abilities of the doctors and the nurses so that the hope for a recovery would be developed in the mind of the patient. Imagine a case in which a patient is admitted in a hospital in which one of his friends was died recently because of medical negligence. It is impossible for the patient to develop faith in the abilities of the doctors or the nurses of that hospital. On the other hand, suppose the same patient is admitted in a hospital from which one of his friends was able to overcome a complex disease. In that case, the patient may develop faith in the abilities of the doctors even before he enters the hospital. In short, faith develops hope and hope helps speedy recovery. The development of a helping-trust relationship is another carative factor defined by Watson for developing transpersonal relationship. Imagine a situation in which a nurse neglects the needs of a patient deliberately. In that case, the patient may not develop faith in that nurse. On the other hand, if the nurse shows willingness to help the patient all the time, he may develop better relationships with the nurse quickly. The promotion and acceptance of the expression of positive and negative feelings is the third carative factor in Watson’s theory. It is not necessary that the patient may always demonstrate positive feelings. There could be plenty of instances in which the patient may demonstrate negative feelings. For example, a mental patient may exhibit both positive and negative feelings occasionally. It is difficult to predict when he may show positive feeling and negative feeling. The nurse should be ready to deal with the positive and negative feelings of such patients all the time. There are plenty of instances in which the nurses may struggle to take proper decisions. In such cases, it is necessary for the nurses to use the systematic way of the scientific problem-solving method for decision making. For each problem, there could be more than one solution. It is the duty of the nurse to identify the most appropriate solution whenever the problem arises. For example, in order to calm down a mental patient, the nurse could use force or soothing words. If the nurse forces to settle the patient, he may not develop any positive relationship with the nurse. On the other hand, if the nurse uses soothing words to calm down the patient, he may develop positive relationships with the nurse. Conclusions Jean Watson’s theory of caring is extremely important for the nurses to excel in their profession. The needs of the patients could be different and it is the duty of the nurses to adapt themselves with it. Better patient-nurse relationships may help the patient very much in the recovery process. Nurses should be visualized as angels rather than evils by the patients. The sight of the nurse should be a pleasant one for the patient. The carative factors formulated by Watson in her theory would help the nurses to establish positive relationships with the patients. References Jean Watson's Philosophy of Nursing, (2012). Retrieved from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/Watson.html McCance T.V, McKenna H.P. and Boore, J.R.P. (1999). Caring: theoretical perspectives of relevance to nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1999, 30(6), 1388±1395 Overview of Jean Watson’s Theory, (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.innovativecaremodels.com/uploads/File/caring%20model/Overview%20JW%20Theory.pdf Rosenberg S. (2006). Utilizing the language of Jean Watson's caring theory within a computerized clinical documentation system. Computers, Informatics, Nursing: CIN. 2006 Jan-Feb; Vol. 24 (1), pp. 53-6; Suliman WA, Welmann E, Omer T and Thomas L. (2009). Applying Watson's nursing theory to assess patient perceptions of being cared for in a multicultural environment. The Journal Of Nursing Research: JNR [J Nurs Res], 2009 Dec; Vol. 17 (4), pp. 293-7 Read More