Conceptual-Theory-Empirical

Jean Watson’s theory of human caring mainly concerns on the way nurses care for their patients and the caring processes that promote health and wellness, prevent illness, and restore health. Watson describes caring as an integral part of the nursing profession, which itself is described as a human science and an art. As Barry, Gordon, and King (2015) highlighted, Jean Watson’s is guided by several major conceptual elements including the ten carative factors, transpersonal caring relationships, caring moments, and caring-healing modality. Empirical indicators also demonstrate how caring practices and professional models of care grounded in the tenet of Jean Watson caring theory influences the field of nursing, patient, and healthcare organization outcomes (DiNapoli, Nelson, & Turkel, 2010). Consistently, we review the Conceptual-Theory-Empirical structure process used to inform the creation of the chosen theorist – Jean Watson.

Caring is the essence nursing and the act is often the guiding thread of knowledge structure of the discipline and its evolution (Favero, Pagliuca, & Lacerda, 2013). Unfortunately, at the healthcare facility, first-time teenage mothers reported that the caring services offered by the nurses were not sufficient. Ideally, it was unclear the behaviors that may have communicated uncaring from the perspective of the teenage mothers. However, they complained that the nurses did not explain everything to them before the baby was born, nor allow them time to ask questions. According to Sinclair, Beamer, and Raffin (2017), caring must go beyond the mere thought and intention and be communicated through action. Thus, the caring moments acting as the conceptual framework and the teenage mothers’ data acting as the empirical indicators, Jean Watson’s theory of human caring was adopted. The need to promote effective caring, and to nurture the behaviors perceived as caring by the patients prompted the adoption of the human caring theory.

References

Barry, C. D., Gordon, S. C., & King, B. M. (2015). Nursing case studies in caring: Across the practice spectrum. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

DiNapoli, P. P., Nelson, J., Turkel, M., & Watson, J. (January 01, 2010). Measuring the Caritas Processes: Caring Factor Survey. International Journal for Human Caring, 14, 3, 15-20.

Favero, L., Pagliuca, L. M. F., & Lacerda, M. R. (2013). Transpersonal caring in nursing: An analysis grounded in a conceptual model. Revista Da Escola De Enfermagem, 47(2), 489-494.

Sinclair, S., Beamer, K., Raffin, B. S., Sinclair, S., Hagen, N. A., Hack, T. F., McClement, S., … Hagen, N. A. (2017). Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: A grounded theory study of palliative care patients’ understandings, experiences, and preferences. Palliative Medicine, 31(5), 437-447.