Martha Rogers: Science of Unitary Human Beings 1914-1994

Martha Rogers: Science of Unitary Human Beings 1914-1994

▪ born on May 12, 1914, in Dallas, Texas.

▪ Nursing diploma from the Knoxville General Hospital School of

Nursing in 1936

▪ Public Health Nursing degree from George Peabody College in

Tennessee in 1937.

▪ Master’s degree from Teachers College at Columbia University in 1945

▪ Doctorate in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in

1954.

▪ Rogers died on March 13, 1994.

Rogers’ Theory of Unitary Human Beings

▪ The belief in the coexistence of the human and the

environment has greatly influenced the process of change

toward better health. In short, a patient can’t be

separated from his or her environment when addressing

health and treatment. This view led and opened Martha E.

Rogers’ theory, known as the “Science of Unitary Human

Beings,” which allowed nursing to be considered one of

the scientific disciplines.

an art and science

▪ Rogers’ theory defined Nursing as “______ that is

humanistic and humanitarian. It is directed toward the unitary

human and is concerned with the nature and direction of human

development. The goal of nurses is to participate in the process of

change.”

▪ the science of nursing, which is the knowledge specific to the field of nursing that comes from scientific research; and

▪ the art of nursing, which involves using the science of nursing creatively to help better the life of the patient

According to Rogers, the Science of Unitary Human Beings

contains two dimensions:

Nursing

▪ Is both science and art.

▪ It maintains the energy field which is conducive for the patient.

▪ Nursing intervention guides the interaction of person and

environment’s energy field to maximize the health potential of

the patient.

Person

▪ A unitary human being is an open system which continuously

interact with the environment.

▪ A person’s aspects cannot be viewed individually, it should be

considered holistically.

Human - Unitary Human Beings arts.

▪ A person is defined as an indivisible, pan-dimensional energy field identified by a pattern, and manifesting characteristics specific to the whole, and that can’t be predicted from

knowledge of the parts.

Health

Rogers defines health as an expression of the life process. It is the

characteristics and behavior coming from the mutual, simultaneous

interaction of the human and environmental fields, and health and

illness are part of the same continuum.

Environment

▪ It includes the entire energy field other than the person

▪ These energy fields are not limited by space and time, rather

identified by its organization and pattern

Environmental Field

“An irreducible, indivisible, pan-dimensional energy field identified by pattern and integral with human field

Energy Field

The energy field is the fundamental unit of both the living and the non-living. It

provides a way to view people and the environment as irreducible wholes. The energy fields continuously vary in intensity, density, and extent.

Openness

There are no boundaries that stop energy flow between the human and environmental fields, which is the openness in Rogers’ theory. It refers to qualities exhibited by open

systems; human beings and their environment are open systems.

Pan-dimensionality

is defined as “non-linear domain without spatial or temporal attributes.”

The parameters that humans use in language to describe events are arbitrary, and the

present is relative; there is no temporal ordering of lives.

Synergy

is defined as the unique behavior of whole systems, unpredicted by any behaviors

of their component functions taken separately.

Human behavior is

synergistic.

Pattern

Rogers defined the pattern as the distinguishing characteristic of an energy field seen as a

single wave. It is an abstraction and gives identity to the field.

Principles of Homeodynamics

Homeodynamics should be understood as a dynamic version of

homeostasis (a relatively steady state of internal operation in the living

system).

Homeodynamic principles postulate a way of viewing unitary human beings. The three principles of homeodynamics are resonance, helicy,

and integrality.

Principle of Reciprocy

Postulates the inseparability of man and environment and predicts that

sequential changes in life process are continuous, probabilistic revisions occurring out of the interactions between man and environment.

Principle of Synchrony

This principle predicts that change in human behavior will be determined by the

simultaneous interaction of the actual state of the human field and the actual state of

the environmental field at any given point in space-time continuum.

Principle of Integrality (Synchrony + Reciprocy)

Because of the inseparability of human beings and their environment, sequential

changes in the life processes are continuous revisions occurring from the interactions

between human beings and their environment.

Between the two entities, there is a constant mutual interaction and mutual change

whereby simultaneous molding is taking place in both at the same time.

Principle of Resonancy

It speaks to the nature of the change occurring between human and environmental fields. The life process in human beings is a symphony of rhythmical vibrations oscillating at various frequencies.

It is the identification of the human field and the environmental field by wave patterns

manifesting continuous

Principle of Helicy

The human-environment field is a dynamic, open system in which change is continuous due

to the constant interchange between the human and environment.

This change is also innovative. Because of constant interchange, an open system is never exactly the same at any two moments; rather, the system is continually new or different.

Clinical Practice

▪ Nursing action is always focused on unitary human being and

change the energy field between human and environment.

▪ Nursing interventions include all the noninvasive actions such

as guided imagery, humor, therapeutic touch, music etc.

which are used to increase the potential of human being.

Education

▪ Emphasis should be given on the understanding of the

patient and self, energy field and environment.

▪ Training of nurses should focus more on teaching non-

invasive interventions such as meditation, guided

imagery, therapeutic touch, sense of humor, and service

education programs.

Research

▪ This theory has been used in many research works and has

always been found to be applicable in many researches.

For example:

“A study to assess the effectiveness of meditation in stress

reduction among working women residing in Iloilo City.”

Strengths

▪ Martha Rogers’ concepts provide a

worldview from which nurses may derive

theories and hypotheses and propose

relationships specific to different

situations.

▪ Rogers’ theory is not directly testable due

to lack of concrete hypotheses, but it is

testable in principle.