Alternative Pain Management Therapy Jean Watson's Caring Theory

Alternative Pain Management Therapy

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that care happens to be inseparable to the practice of nursing. Indeed, in the words of Panjnikihar, Stiglic, and Vrbnjak (2017), “caring is the core concept in nursing” (p. 79). As a matter of fact, my personal philosophy of nursing is firmly rooted in the science of care. It is on this basis that I identify with Jean Watson’s caring theory. The said theory largely concerns itself with the expression of care by nurses towards patients (Ozan and Okumus, 2017). How exactly is this particular theory linked with alternative pain management therapy? Effective pain management happens to be one of the most crucial components in the creation of a caring environment. As a matter of fact, one of the theory’s key concepts, i.e. the human being concept, perceives the human being as “a valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, respected, nurtured, understood and assisted” (Wei and Watson, 2019, p. 18). All these factors would be rendered useless in the absence of effective pain management. The all important question, however, remains; are nurses sufficiently knowledgeable or skillful in matters revolving around alternative pain management therapy.

The model of caring highlighted above would guide the project’s theoretical framework. It is important to note that in applying the theory, nurses can be able to advance care that is deemed holistic to patients. This is more so the case in seeking to ensure that the role that patients play in their wellbeing, especially in as far as pain management is concerned, is proactive. In embracing other treatment interventions other than conventional medicine, patients effectively become active participants in the treatment process. With regard to the management of pain, this means that patients can actively apply approaches and techniques such as acupuncture and mind-body therapies to maximize wellness as well as healing. Nurses ought to, therefore, seek ways of increasing their familiarity on alternative pain management therapy.

Watson was convinced that there were two things that contributed to good health; illness absence, and presence of undertakings meant to result in the absence of illness (Ozan and Okumus, 2017). In this realm, therefore, there would be need to ensure that deliberate steps are taken to promote better outcomes. This could be accomplished via the incorporation of alternate pain management therapy into the care equation. Nurses ought to be able to not only comprehend, but also feel comfortable engaging patients in conversations revolving around alternative pain management therapy. The focus in this case would be the advancement of holistic care – in which case Jean Watson’s theory would be instrumental in efforts to direct practice.

To a large extent, the model lends itself to quantitative methods. In seeking to obtain quantitative data, the pertinent patient records will be reviewed. It is important to note that in addition to being ideal in settings that require a large sample, qualitative research happen to be more promoting of accuracy and objectivity. As will be highlighted, this is more so the case given that the number of variables involved happens to be minimal. It would also be prudent to observe that as will be demonstrated in the course of this very undertaking, the automation of data collection can be easily accomplished in this case. This is particularly important owing to the fact that I intend to deploy mobile surveys. Finally, the method embraced in this context also happens to be less costly than the qualitative approach. For instance, a qualitative interview would have been less cost effective than the quantitative survey. However, I am well aware of the fact that the approach could result in shortness of detail in some instances. This is more so the case given that to a large extent, numerical responses would be the basis of the results presented.

As it has been pointed out above, the quantitative method that would be ideal in the present scenario is survey. In seeking to assess how knowledgeable nurses in the site are in as far as the utilization of alternative and complementary therapies is concerned, the author will administer the Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine Attitude Questionnaire (CAIMAQ). It is important to note that when it comes to obtaining qualitative data, CAIMAQ results will be assessed or measured. The application of descriptive statistics will follow after the conversion of Likert scale queries into interval scales. In total approximately 30 queries will be included in this case. Thereafter, analysis of variance, factor analysis, as well as correlation analysis will be undertaken.