Page 70 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

CARInG n 37

interventions such as support groups or trait, a moral imperative, an affect, an inter-
telephone contacts, and direct clinical ser- personal interaction, and a therapeutic inter-
vices such as counseling and respite care. vention. In another analysis of caring theory, C
outcomes of many of these intervention Boykin and Schoenhofer (1990) argued for a
studies indicated that in the short term, the multidimensional approach integrating onto-
interventions may reduce caregiver stress in logical (meaning of caring), anthropological
a limited way but the burden returns when (meaning of being a caring person), and onti-
the interventions cease (Smith, 2008). Given cal (function and ethic of caring) perspectives.
the escalating involvement of informal care- Watson (2005) defined caring as an ontology,
givers and high costs of chronic illness care, a way of being, or a quality of consciousness
interventions with the potential for improv- that potentiates healing. She also defined car-
ing caregiver daily home care management ing as an ethic or moral imperative for relat-
and improving patients’ outcomes (i.e., reduc- ing with the other in which the humanity
ing rehospitalizations) must be tested. of the person is preserved. Swanson (1991)
defined caring as “a nurturing way of relat-
Ubolrat Piamjariyakul ing to a valued other toward whom one feels
Carol E. Smith a personal sense of commitment and respon-
sibility” (p. 165). She identified five processes
by which caring is enacted: knowing, being
with, doing for, enabling, and maintaining
Caring belief. Smith (2001) argued that the meaning
of caring as a concept is defined by the theory
in which it is situated. She described a uni-
Caring has been identified as a central con- tary view of caring as manifesting intentions,
cept in the discipline of nursing (Cowling, attuning to dynamic flow, appreciating pat-
Smith, & Watson, 2008; newman, Sime, & tern, experiencing the infinite, and inviting
Corcoran-Perry, 1991; newman, Smith, creative emergence.
Dexheimer-Pharris, & Jones, 2008; Smith, Several trends have accelerated inter-
2010a, 2011; Smith & Blanchard, 2011). These est in the phenomenon of caring in nursing.
authors have asserted that the discipline of Hospitals with or seeking Magnet ™ status
nursing focuses on the study of the relation- have adopted caring-based frameworks to
ship of caring to human health. Caring is also guide nursing practice. The International
essential to nursing practice, for without car- Caritas Consortium has been developed
ing, true nursing practice does not exist. In the as a network of hospitals and practitioners
past 30 years, theory and research on caring committed to advancing Watson’s theory-
have grown significantly, contributing to the based model in practice (http://www.watson
emergence of a substantive body of knowledge caringscience.org/icc/index.html). Several
referred to as caring science. Although criti- hospitals in South Florida are implementing
cism has been levied against this body of lit- Boykin and Schoenhofer’s (2001) nursing as
erature for its lack of conceptual clarity (Paley, caring model. The importance of caring to a
2001), there is growing international consen- culture of safety is being explored by some
sus in the discipline that knowledge about scholars (Swanson & Wojnar, 2004). others
caring is the key to understanding human (Duffy & Hoskins, 2003; Ray, 1989; Turkel,
health, healing, and quality of life (Watson & 2001; valentine, 1997) have examined the
Smith, 2002). on the basis of an analysis of the relationship between economics and caring,
literature, Morse, Solberg, neander, Bottorff, asserting and supporting that caring and
and Johnson (1990) elaborated five perspec- attention to the economics of healthcare are
tives of caring in nursing as follows: a human not mutually exclusive and that caring-based