Watson's Human Caring Research Articles

Evolution of Watson's Human Caring Science in the Digital Age

Abstract The emergence of the digital age has expanded the role of the nurse to include frequent digital interactions with instructors, peers, patients, managers, organizations, communities, and beyond. Also, because digital resources provide expansive teaching/learning/sharing opportunities where challenges related to geography, proximity, time, language, culture, and economics do not preclude accessibility, new possibilities for establishing global caring/learning communities have emerged where transdisciplinary, multicultural, diverse cohorts from all over the world have opportunities to come together to learn about caring and share unique perspectives and experiences. Ten studies based on Watson's human caring theory, all with a focus on teaching, conveying, and sustaining caring in online nursing classrooms, have validated the applicability and relevance of utilizing Jean Watson's human caring theory to better understand the phenomenon of caring in digital settings.

A Humanistic Caring Quality of Work Life Model in Nursing Administration Based on Watson's Philosophy

Abstract The successive reorganizations of most Western health care networks have led to constant pressure on practice conditions in nursing services administration. In addition, some studies argue that structural and managerial shortcomings due to reorganizations have severe impact on quality of work life (QWL) for frontline nurse managers (FLNMs). The primary purpose of this article is to discuss the potential relevance of Watson's human caring philosophy to FLNMs' understanding of the QWL experience. Integrating all these elements led to the development of a humanistic caring QWL model that can be offered to propose possible solutions for management and research.

Sense, Connect, Facilitate: Nurse Educator Experiences of Caring Online Through Watson's Lens

Twenty-four nurse educators spontaneously provided rich narratives in response to an online survey that asked only for brief answers to 4 questions: Is it possible to demonstrate caring online? What cues prompt you to initiate caring interventions with students? What caring interventions do you initiate in response to those cues? How do students respond to your caring efforts? Themes encompassed within these remarkable narratives include sense, connect, and facilitate. These themes correspond to key elements in Watson's human caring theory and provide a window into the philosophies and practices of 24 wise, intuitive, creative, and deeply caring nurse educators.

Graduate nurse internship program: a formalized orientation program.

The graduate nurse internship program was developed on the basis of Watson's Human Caring Theory. In this article, the author discusses how an orientation program was formalized into an internship program and how the theory was applied.

The use of non-pharmacological nursing interventions on the comfort of cancer patients: A comprehensive systematic review protocol

The use of non-pharmacological nursing interventions on the comfort of cancer patients: A comprehensive systematic review protocol

Practice in 2050: Caring Science and a Synthesis of Views

In this column nurses influenced by Watson's human caring theory and Eriksson's theory of caritative caring share their ideas about what nursing theory-guided practice will be like in 2050. Following these contributions about caring theories in 2050, is a synthesis of threads of relatedness across the volume 20 Practice Applications columns-all of which focus on possibilities for nursing theory-guided practice in 2050.

Teaching holistic child health promotion using Watson's theory of human science and human care

“Preservation and advancement of human care is a critical issue for nursing today in our increasingly depersonalized society. The mandate for nursing within science as well as within society is a demand for cherishing of the wholeness of human personality” (Watson, 1999, p. 29). Children today are being faced with having to deal with this societal “depersonalization.” How children grow up to perceive themselves and others is crucial in developing future adults who genuinely care about themselves and humankind in its totality. Watson's (1999) human science and human care theory was incorporated into teaching health promotion to a group of preadolescent children. Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Snapshots of experience: vignettes from a nursing home.

The specific aim of this research project was to examine and describe the experience of living in a nursing home for six people of 80 years and older. 'Visit' is presented as a means of developing nursing knowledge. This research method is founded on the belief that the act of nursing involves the development of a relationship, and was created out of the author's desire for a relational research method. Philosophical support for the method is provided by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's existentialism, Sally Gadow's existential advocacy, and Jean Watson's Human Caring Theory. Authenticity is proposed as an alternative to the concepts of reliability and validity for judging the scientific merit of the method. Whether the nursing role is researcher, practitioner or educator, each person's unique and inexhaustible story provides the basis for nursing care. Nurse researchers using 'Visit' as a method of inquiry can illustrate these unique differences through a story, through the images or pictures each individual creates with his or her own words.

Nursing knowledge and human science: ontological and epistemological considerations.

This article examines the meaning of human science in relation to extant nursing knowledge. The origins of the human science tradition are traced to the philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey, who challenged the dominance of the positivist perspective for generating knowledge of the human lifeworld. Specific ontological and epistemological criteria for human science are proposed. Four nursing frameworks, Paterson and Zderad's humanistic nursing, Newman's model of health as expanding consciousness, Watson's human science and human care, and Parse's theory of human becoming, are found to have consistencies and inconsistencies with the human science tradition. It is proposed that the human science perspective is present in and will continue to be reflected in the evolution of nursing science.