Jean Watson’s theory of caring in nursing addresses how care should be expressed to patients. Therefore, the critical element, in theory, is centered on how the nursing practice should promote health in a better approach instead of simply being medical care. Further, Watson believes that the nursing care practice should be patient-centered (Tektas and Cam, 2017). Based on the understanding of the theory, a middle-range theory within Watson’s conceptual model is the theory of caring.
The central concepts in Watson’s caring theory are health, nursing, society or environment, and human beings. Health is harmony and unity in the soul, body, and mind. The proposition in the concept of health lies in the congruence degree relationship between the experienced self and the self (Pajnkihar et al., 2017). Nursing is the human science associated with experiences in human health illnesses and people. The proposition of this concept lies in the mediated transactions in personal, esthetic, professional, ethical, and scientific human care (Pajnkihar et al., 2017). Environment or society offers values that determine an individual’s behavior and the goals strived for. Therefore, the proposition associated with this concept is the gene-related caring attitude passed among generations, which is a unique way people cope with the environment (Tektas and Cam, 2017). Human beings represent the valued individual to be understood, nurtured, cared for, and respected. The proposition associated with the concept is the philosophical perception that humans are viewed as more significant than and distinct from the sum of her o his parts.
From the week’s readings, Watson’s work is considered a grand theory since her work consists of creative factors that form the caring science philosophical foundation. Moreover, through the theory, Watson gratifies human needs and orders them into lower-order biophysical, lower-order psychological, and higher-order psychosocial needs (Tektas and Cam, 2017). Further, Watson believes that nursing is a holistic health approach centered on caring.
References
Pajnkihar, M., McKenna, H. P., Stiglic, G., & Vrbnjak, D. (2017). Fit for practice: Analysis and evaluation of Watson’s theory of human caring. Nursing science quarterly, 30, 3, 243-252.
Tektas, P., & Cam, O. (2017). The effects of nursing care based on Watson’s theory of human caring on the mental health of pregnant women after a pregnancy loss. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 31, 5, 440-446.