Page 108 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

t h eoret ic al Fra m e w o r k F or C ar it as/c ari n g rel at i on s h i p
While it is neither possible nor likely that these features will be
present all the time, what happens in a caring moment does affect both
parties, for better or for worse. The next section addresses the clas-
sic research of Halldorsdottir (1991), which helps us understand the
for-better-or-for-worse outcomes of caring-noncaring for patients and
nurses.

HALLdORSdOTTIR mOdEL:
BIOCIdIC TO BIOGENIC (CARITAS) CARING
Halldorsdottir’s (1991) clinical research led to a classification of nurse-
patient relationships, based on the patients’ experience, that allows us
to grasp the continuum from uncaring to caring, which perhaps we
can extend to Caritas Consciousness and add the continuum from non-
healing to healing (Quinn et al. 2003).

• Type 1: Biocidic—life destroying (toxic, leading to anger, despair,
and decreased well-being)
• Type 2: Biostatic—life restraining (cold, or patient treated as a
nuisance)
• Type 3: Biopassive—life neutral (apathetic or detached)
• Type 4: Bioactive—life sustaining (classic nurse-patient relation-
ship as kind, concerned, and benevolent)
• Type 5: Biogenic—life giving (life receiving).

The biogenic mode is closely aligned with notions of transper-
sonal and Caritas Consciousness in a caring-healing relationship. As
Halldorsdottir put it:

This [biogenic; transposed here as Caritas model] involves loving,
benevolence, responsiveness, generosity, mercy and compassion. A
truly life-giving presence offers the other interconnectedness and
fosters spiritual freedom. It involves being open to persons and
giving to the very heart of man [sic] as person, creating a relation-
ship of openness and receptivity, yet always keeping a creative dis-
tance of respect and compassion. The truly life-giving or biogenic
presence restores well-being and human dignity; it is a transform-
ing, personal presence that deeply changes one. (Halldorsdottir
1991:44)

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