Nursing Theory: Jean Watson's Theory Of Nursing

Nursing Theorist Paper Many nurses in our society today have come a very long way. Nurses have expanded their roles in the healthcare field, making them extremely important in performing high quality care on patients. Taking care of these patients may seem like an obvious job for the nurse to do, but really caring about the patient seems to get lost in range of nursing responsibilities. Nurses have an innate capability of caring, but it is very surprising how many nurses today may not know what it truly means to provide care for a patient or to develop a meaningful therapeutic relationship. The nursing theorist I chose is Jean Watson. Jean Watson (June 10, 1940 – present) is an American nurse theorist and nursing professor who is well
She was born and raised in West Virginia. She had her undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado where she finished psychology and nursing. Her hunger for knowledge manifested when she finished her master’s degree. She had psychiatric-mental health nursing as her MA, and educational psychology and counseling as her Ph.D (McEwen and Willis, 2007, p. 191). “At the School of Nursing in University of Colorado, Watson is the Murchinson-Scoville Chair in Caring Science and also a Professor in Nursing. She is the founder of the Colorado’s Center for Human Caring (McEwen and Willis, 2007, p. 191).” She is also affiliated to the American Academy of Nursing and has received numerous honorary doctoral degrees and other honors both from the national and the international scene (McEwen and Willis, 2007, p. 191). Because of her theory of human caring, and her philosophies that shaped her opinions and insights, Jean Watson was able to publish a book explaining her theory. Today, her theory is being taught in schools. Nurses from the different parts of the globe study her thoughts and insights (McEwen and Willis, 2007, p. 191).
Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring is a middle range theory that contributes to the existential side of nursing. It focuses on authentically caring about the whole patient. This means caring about the patient’s mind, body and spirit so that the healing process can continue at an optimal level.
The concepts are human being, health, environment or society, and nursing. Human being is a valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, respected, nurtured, understood and assisted; in general a philosophical view of a person as a fully functional integrated self. Human is viewed as greater than and different from, the sum of his or her parts (“Jean Watson’s Philosophy,” 2012). With health Watson says there are three elements to define health. They are a high level of overall physical, mental and social functioning, a general adaptive-maintenance level of daily functioning, and lastly the absence of illness (“Jean Watson’s Philosophy,” 2012). When talking about our environment or society according to Watson, caring (and nursing) has existed in every society. A caring attitude is not transmitted from generation to generation,It is transmitted by the culture of the profession as a unique way of coping with its environment (“Jean Watson’s Philosophy,” 2012). Lastly nursing, nursing is concerned with promoting health, preventing illness, caring for the sick and restoring health. It focuses on health promotion and treatment of disease. She believes that holistic health care is central to the practice of caring in nursing. She defines nursing as “a human science of persons and human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional, personal, scientific, esthetic and ethical human