Nursing Theories

Jean Watson came up with the theory of human caring and the ‘caritas process.’ The
theorist has a background in nursing and psychology and throughout her practice, she observed
the effect of caring on patients and the eventual health outcomes. Supportive care has positive
health outcomes. It leads to relationship management which is a crucial part of patient
engagement and the patient’s family. Watson’s theory is applied through the ten carative factors.
These include the practice of love-kindness, authenticity, cultivating a spiritual practice, allowing
the expression of both the negative and positive feelings, enabling, developing a helping-trusting
relationship, willingness to learn from experience among others. The carative factors show that a
nurse practitioner engages their emotion in the caring relationship during practice.
Jean argues that care cannot be separated from the nursing environment. However, most
people perceive care while leaning more on economic and administrative practices. Watson
clarifies the main considerations of what it means to be human, vulnerable, ill, cured, cared for,
healthy, and healed. The explanation is meant to solve the conflicts that existed in the traditional
models of healthcare which focused more on the economic and administrative model of caring
(Smith & Weiths, 2019). The theory seeks to explain the rationale behind nurses’ attraction to
the profession. It states that the major attraction is achieving the desired health outcomes after
caring for a patient. Watson argued that any profession that loses its value becomes heartless;
many profession that becomes heartless is soulless and if it loses it, soul, it becomes worthless
(Watson, 2010). This argument aligns with my experience as a medical-surgical nurse. I was
attracted to this profession after suffering an illness that made me understand the real meaning of
being ill and vulnerable and finally getting healed. One objective of nursing care is to help

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patients recover and reunite with their families or helping them achieve a peaceful death (Bayuo,
2017).
The working environment for nurses can be morally destroying and frustrating. They are
prone to anger and disrespect from people that they spend sleepless nights serving. There are also
a lot of ethical dilemmas that face nurses in the course of practice. For instance, as a surgical
nurse, one is faced with a dilemma especially when the family members fail to sign consent
forms when their own need to undergo major surgery. The patient needs care and at the same
time, the nurse cannot provide care without agreement from the patient’s family. Therefore,
countering this experience requires cultivating a caring experience to meet the basic peace of
mind of a nursing practitioner. The theory of caring advocates for the traditional practices of
empathy and caring (Dyess & Rigg, 2020). It encourages an emotional approach while caring for
patients in the health care practice. Nurses are therefore encouraged to have both a spiritual and
authentic engagement with the patients, their families, and communities. This will enhance a
more positive experience of the health care environment for both the patient and the nurses who
might feel overwhelmed by the duty of care. Research postulates that when patients are
emotionally engaged, the nurses and patients share the beneficial experience (Qualis, 2014).
Watson argues that care cannot be separated from the nursing environment. The theory
seeks to explain the rationale behind nurses’ attraction to the profession. It states that the major
attraction is achieving the desired health outcomes after caring for a patient. The theory of caring
advocates for the traditional practices of empathy and caring. However, most people perceive
care while leaning more on economic and administrative practices. Watson’s Theory of human
caring allows nurses to gain the desired health outcomes while enhancing a positive experience
of the health environment for both the nurses and patients.

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Reference

Bayuo, J. (2017). A case study in the caring application of Watson’s theory of human caring to
end of life care in the burns intensive care unit: A case report. International Journal of
Human Caring, 21(3), 142-144.
Dyess, S., Boykin, A., & Rigg, C. (2020). Integrating caring theory with nursing practice and
education: connecting with what matters. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration,
40(11), 498-503.
Qualls, S. H. (2014). What social relationships can do for health. Generations, 38(1), 8-14.
Smith, T. W., & Weihs, K. (2019). Emotion, social relationships, and physical health: concepts,
methods, and evidence for an integrative perspective. Psychosomatic medicine, 81(8),
681-693.
Watson, J., & Woodward, T. K. (2010). Jean Watson’s theory of human caring. Nursing theories
and nursing practice, 3, 351-369.