Page 180 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

a dmi ni st ering sacr e d nu rs i ng a ct s
This mutuality of the caring relationship in assisting another
expands in a spiral toward a consciousness of all acts in which we min-
ister/attend to another. This basic need and basic professional respon-
sibility of assisting another with a basic human need is foundational
to human caring. Helping another by attending to, helping to care
for another when in need, is a sacred act of sustaining humanity and
humane acts of caring.
This basic need is associated with nourishing body, mind, emo-
tions, and spirit with food both symbolically and literally, whereby
with this need we are drinking in love, friendship, companionship, sup-
port, trust, warmth, security, and so on, even in the midst of the pain,
suffering, sickness, and isolation so commonly associated with illness.

signifiCanCe of tHe food and
fluid need for Caritas NursiNg
• Theory and research support the proposition that emotional and
energetic associations are related to this biophysical basic need.
Emotional factors can create associations that permeate life pat-
terns and affect imbalances and eating disorders.
• Food and fluid need represents and symbolizes much more than
the intake of nourishment for survival.
• This need is energetically associated with trust, love, warmth,
security, and safety in human relationships.
• This need is related to past experiences, conscious and uncon-
scious experiences and meanings, symbolic and real meanings
associated with early feeding experiences, and relationships with
food, eating, and emotional experiences with significant others.
• The cultural significance of food habits, eating practices, selec-
tion of foods, and so on, must be incorporated into a plan of
caring. Familiar foods give people a sense of trust, comfort, and
security.
• Food is a focus of emotional associations and interpersonal rela-
tionships. Eating habits begin in childhood from birth onward;
one’s culture and past experiences define for one what is edible,
how and under what circumstances foods are to be eaten,
savored, or valued.

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