Parse Theory of Human Becoming in Healthcare Delivery
This paper examines Rosemarie Rizzo Parse's Theory of Human Becoming, originally called the Man-Living-Health Theory, as a framework for healthcare delivery. It outlines the theory's three core assumptions—meaning, rhythmicity, and transcendence—and explores how they intersect with both the totality and simultaneity nursing paradigms. The paper evaluates the theory's practical benefits, including its ability to distinguish nursing from other healthcare disciplines and guide research methodologies, alongside its notable drawbacks, such as limited accessibility for novice nurses and difficulty applying it in acute care settings. Conceptual models are introduced to demonstrate how the theory's abstract, existential foundations can be made more accessible in clinical practice, particularly in settings such as pediatric oncology.
- Introduction to Parse's Human Becoming Theory: Overview of Parse's theory and its origins
- Core Assumptions of Human Becoming: Meaning, rhythmicity, and transcendence explained
- Benefits of the Parse Theory in Healthcare Delivery: Theory's practical advantages in nursing practice
- Drawbacks of the Parse Theory in Healthcare Delivery: Limitations including accessibility and acute care gaps
- Conceptual Models for Parse's Theory: How conceptual models make abstract theory accessible
- Application in Clinical Practice and Conclusion: Theory applied to pediatric oncology and nursing
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What makes this paper effective
- Balances theoretical exposition with practical critique, presenting both the strengths and limitations of Parse's theory with equal rigor.
- Uses a direct quotation from Parse's own 2006 research study to illustrate the theory's sometimes inaccessible language, grounding the critique in concrete evidence.
- Connects abstract philosophical concepts—such as co-constitution and situated freedom—to real-world nursing challenges, making the theoretical content clinically relevant.
- Applies the theory specifically to pediatric oncology, a high-stakes context that highlights the theory's unique strengths in palliative and transformative nursing care.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of theoretical synthesis by weaving multiple nursing frameworks—totality and simultaneity paradigms, conceptual models, and spirituality literature—into a coherent evaluation of a single theory. Rather than simply describing Parse's model, the author tests it against practical nursing realities, a technique that elevates the paper from summary to critical analysis.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction situating Parse's theory within the broader landscape of nursing theories. It then systematically unpacks the three core assumptions before pivoting to a balanced evaluation of benefits and drawbacks. The final section uses conceptual models to bridge theory and practice, culminating in an application to pediatric oncology that reinforces the theory's value in complex clinical environments. References follow APA formatting throughout.
Introduction to Parse's Human Becoming Theory
One of the major theoretical models for healthcare delivery is the Parse Theory of Human Becoming, created by Rosemarie Rizzo Parse—originally titled the Man-Living-Health Theory (2011). This theory focuses on healthcare and the human through the lens of quality of life. This theoretical premise for delivering and receiving healthcare gained traction as an alternative to the more standard biomedical method and the biological-psychological-social-spiritual method found in the bulk of other nursing theories. The theory has enjoyed much attention and use in healthcare delivery because it views quality of life as relative to each person's individual viewpoint.
Core Assumptions of Human Becoming
Meaning
Human becoming allows one to select specific meaning in situations within the realm of human experience. Reality is the culmination of lived experiences. A sometimes nebulous process of co-creation occurs via lived experiences, as the universe and the human co-create together.
Rhythmicity
This term refers to how the human being evolves via the co-developmental and creational patterns it engages in with the universe. The human being co-creates with the universe in an ongoing, dynamic relationship.
Transcendence
This theory holds that the individual co-transcends multidimensionally with possibilities that continue to emerge. The self is in a state of constant transformation, even beyond the boundaries set by the person.
Summary of Paradigms
Parse's Human Becoming Theory encompasses the overall totality paradigm, which holds that the human being is an intermingling of the biological, psychological, and spiritual elements inherent within reality.
The theory also encompasses the simultaneity paradigm, which asserts that the human being is a unified entity in continual mutual engagement with the surrounding world, and that the surrounding world is equally engaged with the human being. Parse's theory is particularly useful because it overlaps with a range of nursing paradigms.
Benefits of the Parse Theory in Healthcare Delivery
One of the main advantages of this theory is that it offers a clear distinction of nursing from all other disciplines within the realm of professional healthcare. In practical healthcare delivery, it provides clear guidelines of care and a beneficial administrative structure, making it useful both for education and for forging research methodologies. It creates a framework for examining additional nursing theories from a concrete perspective. However, this theory has also come under criticism for being something of a closed circle unto itself (Currentnursing.com, 2011).
References
Alligood, M. R. (2017). Nursing Theorists and Their Work (E-Book). Elsevier Health Sciences.
Currentnursing.com. (2011). Human becoming theory: Rosemarie Rizzo Parse. Retrieved from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/Rosemary_Pars_Human_Becoming_Theory.html
Fawcett, J., & Russell, G. (2001). A conceptual model of nursing and health policy. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 2(2), 108–116.
Martsolf, D. S., & Mickley, J. R. (1998). The concept of spirituality in nursing theories: Differing worldviews and extent of focus. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27(2), 294–303.
Melnechenko, K. L. (1995). Parse's theory of human becoming: An alternative guide to nursing practice for pediatric oncology nurses. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 12(3), 122–127.
Parse, R. R. (2006). Feeling respected: A Parse method study. Nursing Science Quarterly, 19(1), 51–56.
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