Caring Caritas and Caring Relationship Jean Watson\'s

Caring

Caritas and Caring Relationship

Jean Watson's theory of caring has long been an important and profound theoretical framework for the practice and study of nursing, and has helped to revitalize the discipline in the current area. This theory has also led to significant changes in the ways in which nursing is carried out by many practitioners and in many institutions, contributing to more comprehensive and holistic approaches to patient care and developing deeper emotional and spiritual ties between individuals during the provision of care. The establishment of the Watson Caring Science Institute and its activities such as the International Caritas Consortium has led to an even more widespread adoption of caring techniques and a greater appreciation for the direct and practical benefits that this approach to nursing practice can have. The website for the WCI and the ICC provides an excellent overview understanding of the concept of caring in nursing practice, providing valuable insights to practicing nurses and to students.

Caring relationships in nursing practice are defined by deeper connections between individuals, including nurses and their patients, amongst nurses, and between all others involved in the provision of care. In order to develop these caring practices and relationships, each of the individuals involve din the caring process must be properly identified and approached openly. Bringing together the patient, the family, and the community along with the knowledge, leadership, and interdisciplinary collaboration that is required to provide effective practical care allows for the development of true caring relationships between all members of the care providing team and thus facilitates well-being and personal growth.

The essential value that supports the concept of caring in the nursing profession as defined and advocated by Watson is the belief that all human beings have an intrinsic value, and that each individual and every life is worthy of the connection and caring of others. This is related to the ethical imperative to treat all human beings as ends in and of themselves; that is, people are not simply a means to another end -- a component that enables the treatment of disease, for example -- but rather are important in and of themselves, and can be addressed on their own terms and for their own fulfillment. This concept carries with it a moral component of finding the good in every individual to serve as a point of connection between the observer and the observed -- a morality of compassion and connection, in other words. With the value, ethic, and moral ideals of Watson's theory of caring in place, nurse practitioners can be fairly confident that their actions will yield positive results.

The caring practices advocated by Watson and others that have joined with her appear to be heavily influenced by certain Eastern religious and spiritual philosophies that view the mind body, and spirit as different components of the same whole, that must be approached and treated together in order to achieve real healing and greater well-being. Caring is built on the theory that all individuals can be reached on multiple levels, and that inter-human connections and caring is a necessary part of human fulfillment and of true well-being, and that without these things neither physical nor spiritual health is possible. Medical and nursing science also provide key practical guides for achieving effective caring practices.