Analysis Of Katharine Kolcaba's Comfort Theory

A nursing model not covered in class is Katharine Kolcaba and her theory of comfort.

b.) mention some background on its development. (7 points)

Katharine Kolcaba was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944. She graduated with a diploma of nursing from St. Luke’s Hospital of Nursing in 1965. In 1987 she graduated with RN MSN from Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and with a PhD in 1997, and began teaching in 1987 at the University Of Akron College Of Nursing. The comfort theory is a nursing theory that was first developed in the 1990s. In 2003 she published Comfort Theory and Practice: a Vision for Holistic Health Care and Research. She retired from teaching, and focused on volunteering with the American Nurses Association and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau. The Comfort Theory originated from a Masters Program assignment which was to diagram her nursing practice. At this time she worked on an Alzheimer unit and was head nurse and comfort was what she had in mind for these patients. This is when comfort became her center in research and her practice. This theory does not have one single publication but is the result of long work. This theory then later had the opportunity to be applied to other fields of nursing. According to Kolcaba, patient comfort is a very complex, rich,

Strengths: a.) The theory is related to the modern nursing and only needs a common sense approach. This common sense knows comforting interventions enhance patients’ comfort. If the patient is comfortable then patient satisfaction is improved as well. When the patient comfort is met the patient strengthens which can help the healing process.

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