Caring Theory in Nursing Practice - Essay Example

Nursing Theory College of Nursing Number: Term Month and Year Nursing Theory The article will deal with the caring theory and its relationship with the nursing practice. Caring theory is the conceptualization of the care provided by the nurses as well as other professional caregivers. The caring theory was formulated long ago in most of the sectors of health care. Caring theory aims to communicate the caring phenomenon. The concept, action, and intent of caring relates with the nursing practice and most of the nurses focus on it. Caring has its roots on the cultural and socio-political phenomenon in the entire philosophical discourse and the evolutionary process. Nurse is a person capable to provide care while interacting with people. The provision of nursing care enables interactions to depict that this profession provides a basis for nursing as a profession discipline to interact with the society. Caring as a concept can be construed to mean providing for, looking after, or caring about somebody. The disposition for caring can range from a mild concern to a strong attachment of deep-felt love. According to caring and nursing theorists such as Ranheim & Bertero (2012) and Gillespie et al. (2012) caring is both a value and an attitude that becomes an intent due to manifestation of the concrete acts. Other caring philosophers argue that caring relationships establish strong ethos of love, sacrifice, and responsibility in caritative ethic. Care and caring have a feministic inclination due to the natural mother taking care of children. Aims of the Analysis To better understand the approach of caring and the role of the practice I will consolidate empirical findings from three different studies that will reveal the nurse caring intentions to reflect the caring theory in practice. The study aims to elaborate a critical representation of the caring concept as presented in the nursing literature using conceptual analytical approaches. The critical reflection on the caring concept represents the concept as vague and indefinite while ontology and epistemology in profession nursing distinguish conceptual analyses of caring and the structural perspective of language. Additionally the paper will mention the self-referential attributes of the concept of caring, uses, and the analytical methods. An alterative view will explain caring as a discursive practice instead of a rigid entity while informing on the role of the concept in the nursing practice. A poststructuralist view perceives caring as deputation rather than a guiding concept that can cater for extensive research in caring theory. Lastly the paper will examine the nurse caring behaviors to the parents of pediatric patients while in the emergency room. The study will answer the following questions: What are the most nurse caring behaviors? What is the most reliable and valid Caring Behavior Assessment instrument is applicable to the parents of pediatric patients? Literature Review Sargent (2012) considers caring as an ontological and epistemological foundation of nursing. Gillespie et al. (2012) find that nursing literature as vast with many contradictions since it is even difficult to establish a consistent description of caring. The nursing fraternity uses concept analysis widely in its literature to develop the constructing theory. Sargent (2012) argues that the analysis of the caring concept fits in four broad categories in the nursing practice. The four components that will influence the nursing literature include interpersonal process, moral imperative, therapeutic intervention, and the interpersonal process. According to the field of researchers, caring is a conceptualized attribute of Trans cultural and Trans historical behavior that connects with the epistemological practice in nursing. There are varied meaning to the word caring but all people agree to the feeling of caring. Caring is subjective, mutually felt, and experiential according to the examination of comparative research studies. Caring has undetermined nature that regard it as the primary concept of nursing that defines the nursing practice as a vital identity of nurse professional. The definition of the concept will underpin the professional practice to internalize ideals and values that associate with the concept with the professional practice. In essence the worldview depicts nursing as a caring profession due to the presentation of caring for many years as the main guiding concept in nursing practice. Constructing the nursing practice on unknown conceptual framework could result in professional misconduct due to the earlier on ideal and value. Any inconsistent values that fail to align with caring in the nursing practice could lead to dissatisfaction and confusion in the society. In retro respect the caring concept remains a salient attribute in the modern nursing practice and the epistemological framework. Ranheim & Karner (2012) depict different caring perspectives in nursing. The philosophical foundation cite that caring is a human science with a holistic view of people that directs provision of care to the patients needs, values, and experiences. The caring theorists in nursing present complex definition where one cannot understand due to the ontological nature. The theorists perceive nursing as a practical profession with many fundamental questions. The questions are vital for the entire health care since they influence the whole society. Rainheim & Karner(2012) performs empirical studies to reveal nursing caring intentions. The first empirical study has sense making movement and reflection concept that display the caring phenomenon. A professional caring relationship can originate when one desire caring due to crisis or illness that makes them unable to engage in self care. The caring relationship will enable the carer and the cared to benefit. The professional caring relationship has reciprocity and other dispositional elements. Researchers and theorist have extensively analyzed caring as a concept. The analysis suggests that caring is not only a series of action but it is also an act that depends on the value bond. Sargent (2012) provides a distinction of caring in a generic way and profession caring. In a generic way caring is supportive and facilitates an act to other people that anticipates needs that will improve the human condition. Caring in a professional perspective is a cognitive and learned trait to enable the cared to improve a favorable health condition. The controversial issue that the researchers find is whether is a prerequisite for professional caring to have intellectual and scientific understanding. Some criticize professional caring since they belief that caring is a compassionate help that human beings exchange with each other due to experiences in life miseries. The compassionate help does not come from prior knowledge and scientific concepts. The authors fail to understand the importance of professional care since expert care has nothing to do with the possession of privileged information that increase a person’s dominion and control over others. They that hold different opinion cite that professional caring liberates and enriches professional nursing practitioners to enable them facilitate caring in an enriched process. The proponents in the debate cite that professionalism in expert caring has inherent danger in the prevention of the truths communicated in the quality of living life that one cannot state in propositions. Various authors argue that professional caring has a moral dimension Gillespie et al. (2012) finds that professional caring contains several aspects that arise out of individual entity of human and social being. A professional carer is not equipped through repertoire of knowledge but in the moral dimension of caring. The professional imperatives of caring requires one’s responsibility to respect all the humanity in need. Ethics hold together the professional and the unprofessional domains of caring. Sarget (2012) observes the carer as a human being that will perceive the needs of fellow human being and develops a consequential feeling toward them. The feeling can motivate the would-be carer to act where they can either respond or not to the feelings. If the carer chooses to act then they are responsible for there actions of caring. Any professional carer must act in a responsible way and keep up with the current insights. Uses Sargaret (2012) considers the concept as the theoretical building blocks for one to develop the phenomenon concerning the phenomenon. The concepts are important since they resonate with the literature of caring to raise the stakes on the achievement of the theoretical constructs. The conceptual definitions intend to identify the implications and the operational definitions of the research, develop structural components of the theory, and to create a scientific basis for the nursing profession. Contemporary studies illustrate that nursing intention in caring will largely correspond with the caring theory from humanistic viewpoint. Nurses as medical consultants and administrators decline them from applying creativity in caring. Defining Attributes The authors and researchers find diverse range of attributes that claim to represent the caring concept such as nurses’ perception of caring, affection, instrumental, ethics, holism, humanism, organizational quality, and traits. The researchers express grief on the tentativeness of the result in the analyses and the subsequent claims that suggest that professional caring does not make sense. The literature describes five attributes of caring that unfold over time: variability, attitude, acceptance, action, and relationship. The focus of the approach of conceptual analysis views the concept as dynamic. The literature assumes that knowledge is continuous and seamless. Model Cases Sargent (2012) performs an initial search of the literature to locate the definition of caring elicit from conceptual analyses and meta-analyses. The objective of the search is to expose the state of play that arises from a systematic approach due its conceptual definition. The focus of the review establishes the process of caring that becomes conceptualized. Vast literature present provides proposes to the conceptual definition of caring and defines the concept of caring in the professional nursing practice. The initial search reveals that the conceptual analyses of nursing have been formulated for many years. A timeframe of twelve years present the modern view of the concept any different context can influence the outcome of the analyses. Alternative Cases Contrary case: Some theorists and researchers present a poststructuralist interpretation of caring that is centrality to the earlier one. The theorists seek to establish the reality of caring in an empirical sense. The interpretation focuses on the discourse and discursive practices to produce dominant ideologies. The poststructuralist perspective is that the formation of the discourse has primacy on the nursing practice. The theorist suggest that in the course of defining attributes one has to observe the correlation of the technical and scientific work that is prevalent in the nursing lexicon. For instance the appraising of the conceptual analyses of caring without making reference to caring will prevent the mention of some of the attributes such as interpersonal skills, therapeutic intervention, and moral imperatives. Illegitimate Case: The RCN presents an ambiguous publication in the media that concerns the concept of caring. The caring component in the publication was ambiguous since it proposed nurses as being too clever to care. One can apply infinitive care to depict caring as the concern or compassion for another person during the provision of medical nursing therapies. Antecedents & Consequences The attempt to develop an understanding in the concept uses the performance of meta-synthesis of qualitative analyses. The ground theory identifies some of the antecedents, attributes of caring process, and the outcomes of the process. Some of the attributes of the process include intimate relationships, expert nursing, and interpersonal sensitivity. The present caring describes the concept as a complex intervention. Empirical Referents Sagaret (2012) applies Walker and Avant adaption of concept analyses that captures the essence of the process. The method of concept analyses accounts for six concept analyses used in the review. Some theorists criticize the adaption of the original method since it weakens the outcome of the analyses to render the results as arbitrary. Conclusion In conclusion, the paper has presented different attributes to the caring concept in the nursing literature. Additionally, the paper depicts the motivations and the influences of nursing practice to its present form. The paper has provided valuable insights concerning the importance of sustaining a central concept of caring as being definitive in the nursing practice. The definition of nursing as a caring concept and the portrayal of the attributes as secondary to the concept are likely to limit the role of the professional nurse. The nursing research has been built on the premise that will inform all professional nurses concerning different aspects in this discipline. Conceptual analyses have increased my understanding of caring in the context of the nursing practice. In future theorists should develop an extensive understanding on why the nursing profession has the construction on the discourse of caring. References Gillespie, Gordon Lee, PhD, RN, PHCNS-BC,C.E.N., C.P.E.N., Hounchell, Melanie,B.A., C.C.R.C., Pettinichi, Jeanne, BSN, RN,C.P.N., C.P.E.N., Mattei, Jennifer, MSN,R.N., C.P.N., & Rose, L., R.N. (2012). Caring in pediatric emergency nursing. Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, 26(3), 216-32. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1086347614?accountid=458 Ranheim, A., Kärner, A., & Berterö, C. (2012). Caring Theory and Practice-Entering a Simultaneous Concept Analysis. Nursing Forum, 47(2), 78-90. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2012.00263.x Sargent, A. (2012). Reframing caring as discursive practice: a critical review of conceptual analyses of caring in nursing. Nursing Inquiry, 19(2), 134-143. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1800.2011.00559.x Read More