Grand Theory of Nursing: Health as Expanding Consciousness

Grand theory of Nursing: Health as Expanding Consciousness

Introduction

Margret Newman was a nurse by nature and she realized that years before entering into nursing profession while she was taking care of her ill mother. Her belief that she was made for the profession of nursing became more firm when she entered into the University of Tennessee, Memphis for her baccalaureate degree in nursing. The idea of giving care to the ill humanity has always enthralled her. Although it is a daunting task to provide utmost care to the ills; but she loved, it and always tried to give this with “best of my intellect as well as the utmost of my humanness” (Newman, 1994).

After acquiring her baccalaureate degree she started studying medical-surgical nursing at the University of California, San Francisco and got her MSN degree in the year 1964. She received her Doctorate degree in nursing from the New York University in the year 1977. She started teaching at New York University.

Her theory Health as Expanding Consciousness was influenced and developed from the theory of her teacher, mentor and colleague, Martha Roger’s theory of Unitary Human Beings. She first time presented her theory at a nursing conference in 1978 in New York and was continuously working on it till 1996.

Dr. Newman received many awards for her outstanding services to the field of nursing. New York University had honored her with the award of Distinguished Scholar in Nursing; University of Minnesota had given her the E. Louise Grant Award for Nursing Excellence and Sigma Theta Tau International had honored her with Founders Award for Excellence in Nursing Research.

Different scholars and researchers have described health in different ways. According to Dr....

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