Margaret Jean Watson developed the theory of social care by exploring effective care through a transpersonal relationship that surpasses time, space, and matter of the patient and the provider. This article explores the fundamental principles of Jean Watson’s Nursing Theory of Caring and how it can improve patient care. This comprehensive guide provides valuable insights on Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring.
Jean Watson’s Theory
Jean Watson’s theory is founded on the Science of Caring, which entails how nurses care for their patients. Watson describes patients as a self, not an object, and draws the humanistic aspects of nurses’ practice and knowledge. The theory is concerned with promoting health and disease treatment (Watson & Woodward, 2010).
Watson considers caring as the core of nursing practice as it helps with the healing process. Watsons explains that nurses can demonstrate and practice caring through promoting growth, accepting people as they are, and looking forward to what they become.
Watson’s theory includes transpersonal relationships that depict a human being as a valued person who deserves to be understood, respected, cared for, and assisted. The human is perceived as more significant than the sum of their parts. Watson also describes health as the overall mental, physical, social function of the integral functional self.
Margaret Jean Watson developed the theory of social care by exploring effective care through a transpersonal relationship that surpasses time, space, and matter of the patient and the provider.
The patient-provider relationship constitutes one component of harmony besides the timely moment of integration in ways that promotes healing.
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is identifiable by preserving humanity’s wholeness and treating patients, particularly those with mental disorders, as people not like objects. Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring rests on the tenets of Nightgale’s healing environment concept.
Suffice it to say that due to the heavy science-oriented curricula that nursing students of the 2020s and beyond have to encounter, the learners have to acquire a firm grasp of the spiritual and humanities-focused background needed to demystify human caring.
Essentially, Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is premised on transpersonal psychology, which offers both nurses and educators the foundation upon which one can base their understanding of human caring regardless of what disease the patient may be suffering from.
Postmodern discourse in the contemporary world constantly emphasizes that where a profession does not have a language of its own, it might as well be deemed not to exist. Hence, the psychiatric nurse has to name, claim, articulate and execute activities upon the phenomena of nursing and caring through the subjective real-life experiences of self and others by simultaneously focusing on nursing and caring science.
The Science of Caring involves a mutual relationship between the nurse and the patient, which generates positive energy flowing through the spirit, body, and mind. Watson perceives that nurses are responsible for ensuring the patients are in their best position to experience self-healing (Watson & Woodward, 2010).
Other principles and practices within Watson’s theory include equanimity, love and kindness, and authentic presence. These principles create deep belief and personal spiritual growth that allow the spirit, mind, and body to develop beyond self to care for others.
Watson’s moral foundation of values and love enables nurses to surpass their ego and cultivate a caring environment to protect human health and dignity through love and respect. Nurses are required to respect their patient’s wishes, cultures, and needs.
Watson describes the self-caring consciousness, which enables human beings to create an internal balance and harmony with others and do whatever they need. The authentic presence allows human beings to connect at personal levels and to honour each other. The caring moment is an encounter with other people that enables sharing experience that bolsters understanding of the patient as a person.
Watson describes caring as expansive, circular, and inclusive, and it includes the self, other people, family, and the patients. Caring helps transform people, nature, the environment, and the community. The ten carative factors include embracing, inspiring, trusting, nurturing, forgiving, deepening, balancing, co-creating, ministering, and opening (Watson & Woodward, 2010). These carative factors involve embracing altruistic values, practising love and kindness with self and others, inspiring faith and hope and honoring others, trusting in self and others by cultivating personal beliefs, growth, and practice, and nurturing relationships based on helping, trusting, and caring.
These factors also involve forgiveness, accepting other people’s feelings, and listening to them, creating a balance through teaching and learning to solve personal needs, response, and learning. Watson’s carative factors involve in-depth scientific knowledge to develop solutions and make caring decisions, co-creating a physical and spiritual healing environment for the self and promoting human dignity, ministering basic human needs, and being open to mystical events and miracles.
The 10 Carative Factors of Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring
Caring is a fundamental aspect of nursing practice and plays a critical role in determining the quality of patient outcomes. Jean Watson, a renowned nurse theorist, developed the theory of caring which outlines the carative factors that form the foundation of nursing care. In this article, we will discuss the 10 carative factors of Jean Watson’s theory of caring and their significance in nursing practice.
1. Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. In the context of nursing, it is important for the nurse to be able to put themselves in the patient’s shoes and understand their perspective. This helps the nurse to provide care that is compassionate, understanding and tailored to the patient’s needs.
2. Forming a Humanistic-Altruistic System of Values
Forming a humanistic-altruistic system of values involves developing a set of values that prioritize the well-being and care of others. This is an essential component of nursing practice as it helps the nurse to provide care that is patient-centered and promotes the patient’s well-being.
3. Use of a Scientific Problem-Solving Process
The use of a scientific problem-solving process involves the use of critical thinking, data collection and analysis to identify and address patient problems. This helps the nurse to provide evidence-based care that is effective and efficient.
4. Promotion of Interpersonal Teaching-Learning
Promoting interpersonal teaching-learning involves the nurse engaging in a collaborative relationship with the patient, helping the patient to learn and understand their health condition and care needs. This helps the patient to be an active participant in their own care, leading to better outcomes.
5. Creating Therapeutic Environment
Creating a therapeutic environment involves creating an environment that is conducive to the healing process. This may include creating a quiet and calm atmosphere, promoting privacy and dignity, and providing a supportive and respectful environment for the patient.
6. Promotion of Positive Health
Promoting positive health involves helping the patient to maintain and improve their physical, mental and emotional well-being. This may include providing health education and promoting healthy behaviors, and addressing any barriers to health.
7. Existential-Phenomenological Force Field
The existential-phenomenological force field involves recognizing the patient’s unique life experiences, worldview and values, and incorporating these into the care plan. This helps the nurse to provide care that is holistic and takes into account the patient’s individual needs and circumstances.
8. Promotion of Transpersonal Caring Relationships
Promoting transpersonal caring relationships involves fostering a deep and meaningful connection with the patient that transcends the physical and extends into the spiritual realm. This helps the nurse to provide care that is compassionate, empathetic and meaningful.
9. Maintaining Trust
Maintaining trust involves being honest, transparent and ethical in all interactions with the patient. This helps the nurse to build a strong and trusting relationship with the patient, leading to better care outcomes.
10. Carative Actions and Interventions
Carative actions and interventions refer to the specific actions and interventions that the nurse takes to provide care to the patient. These may include physical care, emotional support, and health education, and must be guided by the principles of the theory of caring.
These ten carative factors serve as a roadmap for nurses, providing guidance on how to approach care from a holistic and caring perspective. Watson’s theory emphasizes the importance of creating a caring relationship between the nurse and the patient, and highlights the role that empathy and compassion play in the nursing process.
Paradigms as a Basis for Choice
The third criterion constitutes the nursing paradigm, which informed the nurse’s selection of the theory in context. By definition, a nursing paradigm refers to the patterns of beliefs and practices through which its identification explicates a scholar’s philosophical assumptions on their research topic.
The main paradigms recognized in the nursing profession are empiricism, interpretive, and critical paradigm. In the empirical paradigm, the individual holds that there is one reality that is verifiable through the senses.
Under the empirical paradigm, one establishes knowledge by controlling specific variables’ circumstances to establish their relationship.
On the other hand, the interpretive paradigm studies phenomena through the eyes of the individuals who experience them. Therefore, the nurse who adopts an interpretive paradigm holds that an event’s understanding and experience play a crucial role beyond what the external observer might see.
In a critical paradigm, one focuses on the social challenges, denominations, and institutions with the overriding purpose of nurturing an egalitarian society.
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring falls under the interactional paradigm. One has to understand the ethical, ontological basis of the unity of the mind, body, and spirit, which adequately clarifies what constitutes a relation within the caring paradigm.
Caring Science: What It Is and How It Relates to Jean Watson’s Theory
Caring science is a relatively new field of study that focuses on the intersection of nursing, philosophy, and spirituality. It was first introduced by renowned nurse theorist, Jean Watson, and has since become a crucial aspect of modern nursing practice.
In this article, we will delve into the concept of caring science, exploring its origin, its fundamental principles, and its significance in contemporary nursing.
Caring science has become increasingly relevant in contemporary nursing practice, as healthcare organizations and policymakers are recognizing the importance of caring and compassion in patient care.
The theory provides a framework for nurses to approach care in a holistic and patient-centered manner, taking into account the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient.
One of the key strengths of Watson‘s theory is its emphasis on the importance of developing a caring relationship between the nurse and the patient. This relationship is crucial for building trust, reducing anxiety and fear, and promoting a sense of comfort and security for the patient.
By fostering this relationship, nurses can help patients feel heard, valued, and understood, which can have a profound impact on the patient’s overall health and well-being.
Caring science also provides a foundation for the development of nursing education and research. By promoting the importance of caring and compassion in the nursing profession, it has encouraged the development of new programs and courses in nursing that focus on these aspects of care.
Furthermore, it has spurred the growth of research in the field, providing a solid framework for exploring the impact of caring and compassion on patient outcomes.
In conclusion, caring science is a crucial aspect of modern nursing practice, providing a framework for nurses to approach care in a holistic and patient-centered manner.
By emphasizing the importance of developing a caring relationship between the nurse and the patient, Watson’s theory has helped to promote the value of caring and compassion in the nursing profession.
Caring science in nursing helps understand the patient’s personality, behavior, and needs. Patients display different characters, and through caring science in practice, nurses are better equipped with the ability to develop interactions with patients to comprehend their needs.
Upon this comprehension of various behavior patterns among patients, it becomes possible and easy to attend to their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In many cases that involve chronic illnesses, for instance, cancer, many patients are in denial. Other infections like chronic mental illnesses make most patients suicidal.
During treatment, patients display certain unexpected behaviors and conditions such as aggressiveness, silence, and self-hate that require constant inspection and medication. These patients need much attention and elevated care to build self-dignity and acceptance.
The knowledge acquired through Caring science is vital in these scenarios, and the most important thing is to remain open to mystical events and miracles. In these instances, good interpersonal relations would help the patients cope with anxiety and emotions, such as fear that could arise.
As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the principles of caring science will remain at the forefront of nursing practice, shaping the way that care is delivered and impacting the lives of patients around the world.
How Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is Used in Nursing Practice
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring outlines a holistic approach to nursing that incorporates not just physical care, but emotional and spiritual care as well. In this article, we will explore 8 ways that Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is used in nursing practice today.
Holistic Assessment
One of the key principles of Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is the importance of considering the whole person when providing care. This means that nurses must assess not just a patient’s physical symptoms, but also their emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. By taking a holistic approach, nurses can provide care that addresses the patient’s overall health and well-being.
Empathy and Compassion
Another key aspect of Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is the importance of empathy and compassion in the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses are encouraged to approach their patients with empathy, putting themselves in their patients’ shoes and truly understanding their experiences. This empathetic approach to care can help build trust and rapport between the nurse and patient, leading to more effective care and treatment.
Person-Centered Care
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring also emphasizes the importance of person-centered care. This means that care should be tailored to each individual patient’s needs and preferences, rather than being a one-size-fits-all approach. By providing person-centered care, nurses can ensure that patients feel heard and understood, and that their care is tailored to their specific needs.
The Healing Environment
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring recognizes the importance of the environment in promoting healing. Nurses are encouraged to create a healing environment for their patients, one that is calm, peaceful, and conducive to recovery. This can include things like providing a comfortable bed, a quiet room, and a peaceful atmosphere. By creating a healing environment, nurses can help their patients feel more at ease and more capable of recovering from illness or injury.
Mind-Body Connection
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring also recognizes the important connection between the mind and the body. She believes that physical symptoms can often be linked to emotional and psychological distress. As such, nurses must take a holistic approach to care, addressing not just physical symptoms, but also emotional and psychological ones. By doing so, they can help promote physical healing and improve overall well-being.
Therapeutic Relationships
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring places a strong emphasis on the importance of therapeutic relationships between nurses and patients. By building strong, therapeutic relationships with their patients, nurses can help promote healing and recovery. This can involve things like providing emotional support, encouraging patients to express their feelings, and simply being there for them when they need it.
Caring Interactions
Caring interactions are a key aspect of Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring. These interactions involve behaviors and actions that show the patient that they are valued and cared for. Examples of caring interactions include things like holding a patient’s hand, offering a comforting word, or simply being present with them. By engaging in caring interactions, nurses can help build trust and rapport with their patients, and promote healing and recovery.
Patient Education
Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring recognizes the importance of patient education in promoting healing and recovery. Nurses are encouraged to educate their patients about their condition, treatment options, and the steps they can take to promote healing.
Promoting Patient Self-Care
Another way in which Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring is used in nursing practice today is by promoting patient self-care. This involves educating patients about the importance of self-care, and providing them with the tools and resources they need to take care of themselves. By promoting self-care, nurses can help their patients to become more self-sufficient and to take an active role in their own care, which can have a positive impact on their overall health and well-being.
Simplicity of Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring
Incorporating Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring into nursing practice is simple since establishing a caring relationship with the patients. All that the nurse is required is to treat the patients as holistic beings, which manifests itself as unconditional acceptance.
The psychiatric nurse should treat geriatric mentally ill patients positively and promote their mental health through knowledge and appropriate interventions.
Once again, factoring in the other criteria and excluding the element of simplicity would significantly hamper the successful utilization of selected nursing theory in a given clinical setting, which in this context happens to a psychiatric facility for geriatrics
How Jean Watson’s nursing theory incorporates the four metaparadigm concepts.
The four metaparadigm concepts in nursing include the person, health, environment and nursing. Watson’s theory is based on assumptions incorporating meta-paradigms of people, health, and the environment.
Environment refers to the external and internal factors that affect a person’s health. The theory emphasizes the provision of a caring and healing environment by providing by a nurse based on existing evidence.
The internal and external factors allow people to actualize their inner power associated with self-healing. An external factor such as a nurse uses caritas such as empathy, love, trust, and health learning/teaching to support and care for people (Wei & Watson, 2019).
Furthermore, Watson’s theory incorporates person and health by arguing that effective caring should promote healing, a sense of wholeness, consciousness, and inner peace that transcends the present crisis, diagnosis, trauma, and illness (Watson, 2013). Moreover, caring should accept a person not according to their present state but to what they are becoming.
Regarding nursing as a metaparadigm, Watson (2013) asserts that caring should be the foundation of nursing. Watson’s position of caring as the basis of nursing is founded by the distinct disciplinary foundations caring as science offers the nursing profession.
Besides, caring re-establishes the human world’s sacred and spiritual dimensions of health (Watson, 2013). According to Watson (2013), caring science is multidisciplinary, including the metaphysics, meta-paradigms, values, moral narrative, and the oneness of the mid-body-spirit (Watson, 2013).
Furthermore, Watson (2013) argues that caring should uphold the ethical, moral, and value-guided metanarrative of human nursing based on the metaparadigm of patient care, the healing process, humanity, and nature.
Significantly, Watson’s theory asserts that people should not be treated as objects or separated from the human self. In this regard, the morality of nursing lies in the inherent need to protect, enhance, and preserve human dignity. Trust and respect between nurses and patients are crucial in presenting human dignity and regenerating human capabilities and energy.
Jean Watson’s theory Summary
Jean Watson’s theory of caring is a humanistic approach to nursing that prioritizes the patient’s holistic well-being. It was developed in the 1970s and has since had a significant impact on nursing practice and education.
One of the key aspects of Jean Watson’s theory is the 10 carative factors, which are the foundation of her approach to nursing care. These factors include forming a humanistic-altruistic value system, instilling faith-hope, cultivating sensitivity to self and others, developing a helping-trusting relationship, promoting expression of feelings, using a problem-solving approach, enabling inner direction, assisting with gratification of human needs, respecting patient’s autonomy, and promoting growth and development.
Jean Watson was influenced by several schools of thought, including humanistic psychology, existential philosophy, and Eastern spirituality. She saw nursing as a holistic, spiritual practice and believed that the nurse-patient relationship was a key factor in promoting healing.
Her theory continues to have a significant impact on nursing practice today. It encourages nurses to see patients as individuals with unique needs and experiences and to develop a caring, empathetic relationship with them. This approach has been shown to improve patient outcomes, increase patient satisfaction, and enhance the overall quality of care.
Jean Watson defined person as a holistic being that includes biological, psychological, social, and spiritual components. Her theory of transpersonal caring is based on the idea that nursing care should extend beyond the physical aspects of care and encompass the spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being of the patient.
There are many scholarly articles that have been published on Jean Watson’s caring theory, exploring its impact on nursing practice and education, and its relevance to modern healthcare. Some of these articles include “The Philosophy and Science of Caring” by Jean Watson, “The Essence of Caring in Nursing Practice” by Marta L. Streubert, and “Transpersonal Caring Relationships in Nursing Practice” by Rosemarie Rizzo Parse.
The basis of Jean Watson’s nursing theory model is the concept of caring and its relationship to healing. The theory conceptualizes nursing as a holistic, humanistic practice that incorporates the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of care.
Jean Watson’s nursing theory is considered a middle range theory because it is specific enough to guide practice, but not so specific that it cannot be applied to a wide range of patient populations and healthcare settings. This makes it a useful framework for nursing education and practice.
The theory of transpersonal caring is a key aspect of Jean Watson’s nursing theory. It emphasizes the importance of the nurse-patient relationship and the role of empathy, compassion, and spiritual well-being in promoting healing. The core concepts of Jean Watson’s caring theory include the patient as a holistic being, the nurse-patient relationship, and the importance of caring in promoting healing.
In summary, Jean Watson’s theory of caring is a holistic approach to nursing that emphasizes the importance of the nurse-patient relationship, spiritual well-being, and the patient’s overall holistic health. Its 10 carative factors provide a foundation for nursing care and its relevance to modern nursing practice continues to be widely recognized.
- Examples of jean watson’s theory in practice – Five examples of Jean Watson’s theory in practice include creating a healing environment for patients, empowering patients to participate in their own care, providing holistic care that addresses the patient’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, fostering a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, and promoting patient growth and development
2. What are the 10 carative factors of jean watson and how are they relevant to modern nursing care
The 10 Carative Factors of Jean Watson are forming a humanistic-altruistic system of values, instilling faith-hope, cultivating sensitivity to self and others, developing a helping-trust relationship, promoting an expression of feelings, using a problem-solving approach, promoting life participation, facilitating transpersonal teaching-learning, and promoting advocacy and social action. These factors are relevant to modern nursing care as they emphasize the importance of patient-centered care, communication, and relationship building between the nurse and the patient.
3. What influenced jean watson’s theory – Jean Watson’s theory was influenced by humanistic psychology, existential philosophy, and transpersonal psychology.
4. How does jean watson’s theory influence current practice – Jean Watson’s theory continues to influence current nursing practice by promoting a holistic approach to patient care, emphasizing the importance of the nurse-patient relationship, and advocating for patient-centered care.
5. Importance of jean watson theory in nursing – The importance of Jean Watson’s theory in nursing lies in its emphasis on the humanistic aspect of nursing and its focus on the patient as a whole person, not just a diagnosis.
6. Jean watson defined person as – Jean Watson defined a person as “a valued being 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.”
7. What is watson’s theory of transpersonal caring – Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Caring is a nursing theory that focuses on the spiritual aspect of patient care, emphasizing the importance of the nurse’s spiritual and transpersonal connection with the patient.
Give five jean watson caring theory scholarly articles
Jean Watson Caring Theory scholarly articles include
- “Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring: A Primer” by M. E. Wiedenbach
- “The Philosophy and Science of Caring” by Jean Watson
- “The Caring Theory: A Humanistic Perspective on Nursing Practice” by D. Benne
- “Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring: A Framework for Clinical Practice” by B. Smith
- “Jean Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Caring” by J. Watson.
8. What is the basis of jean watson nursing theory model – The basis of Jean Watson’s Nursing Theory Model is the patient-centered approach to care and the emphasis on the holistic and transpersonal aspects of patient care.
9. Explain the jean watson theory conceptual model -The Jean Watson Theory Conceptual Model consists of the ten carative factors, the transpersonal relationship, and the caring moment.
10. Why the jean watson nursing theory is a middle range theory of nursing – Jean Watson’s Nursing Theory is considered a middle-range theory of nursing because it provides a specific framework for nursing practice and is applicable to a wide range of clinical situations
11. Explain theory of transpersonal caring watson – The Theory of Transpersonal Caring, as described by Jean Watson, focuses on the spiritual and transpersonal aspects of patient care and emphasizes the importance of the nurse-patient relationship in promoting patient healing and well-being.
12. What are the core concepts of jean watson’s caring theory – The core concepts of Jean Watson’s Caring Theory include holistic care, patient-centered care, transpersonal relationship, and the ten carative factors.
References
McKenna, H., Pajnkihar, M., Murphy, F. (2014). Fundamentals of nursing models, theories, and practice. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Nilsen, P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks. Implementation Science, 10(1), 53.
Parkar, S. R. (2015). Elderly mental health: needs. Mens Sana Monographs, 13(1), 91.
Saleh, U. S. (2018). Theory guided practice in nursing—Journal of Nursing Research and Practice, 2(1), 18.
Savieto, R. M., & Leão, E. R. (2016). Nursing assistance and Jean Watson: a reflection on empathy. Escola Anna Nery, 20(1), 198-202
Nikfarid, L., Hekmat, N., Vedad, A., & Rajabi, A. (2018). The main nursing metaparadigm concepts in human caring theory and Persian mysticism: a comparative study. Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine, 11. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c152/569560e2e06f70ab33d023713a1f4eefb921.pdf
Watson, J. (2013). Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring, Revised Edition. Caring in nursing classics: An Essential Resource, 243-264.Wei, H., & Watson, J. (2019). Healthcare interprofessional team members’ perspectives on human caring: A directed content analysis study. International journal of nursing sciences, 6(1), 17-23. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ijnss.2018.12.001
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