Nursing as caring theory (Anne Boykin & Savina Schoenhofer)

Person/Human being

• constantly "living caring" and "growing in caring”

• human journey is a process of living out one's caring nature

• Enhanced through their participation in nurturing relationships with caring other

• Caring is a process

• Throughout life, each person grows in the capacity to express caring

Human journey

process of living out one's caring nature and includes the nurse and patient

Caring

• a process

• throughout life, each person grows in the capacity to express this

Environment

• not explicitly defined

• life experiences: suffering, hope, pain, illness

• can be indirectly equated to the environment 

Health

• focus of nursing is not to "restore health," "promote health," or "prevent disease”

• goal of nursing is to nurture the person's personhood—their process of "living caring and growing in caring

Nursing (metaparadigm)

• nurse knowing self as caring person and coming to know the other as caring

• creating caring responses that nurture personhood

• exists when the nurse actualizes personal and professional commitment to the belief that all persons are caring

• Focuses on "nurturing persons living caring and growing in caring"

Nursing as caring theory

• an interpersonal process that can occur wherever nurse and others meet under circumstances that provide for the development of nursing situation

• most basic premise of the theory is that all humans are caring persons, that to be human is to be called to live one’s innate caring nature

Nursing

Both a discipline and a profession

Discipline

Aims to discover, create, develop, and refine nursing knowledge

Profession

Focuses on the application of this nursing knowledge in response to human needs and situations

Key assumptions

1. Persons are caring by virtue of their humanness

2. Persons live their caring moment to moment

3. Persons are whole or complete in the moment

4. Personhood is living life grounded in caring

5. Personhood is enhanced through participating in nurturing relationships with caring others

Dance of caring persons model

• Dancers enter the nursing situation, visualized as a circle of caring that provides organizing purpose and integrated functioning

• Each dancer brings special gifts as the nursing situation evolves

• Harmony between dancers

• All in the nursing situation, including the nurse and the nursed, sustain the dance, being energized and resonating with the music of caring