Page 213 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

a d m i ni s t er ing s acr e d n u r s in g ac t s
signifiCanCe of tHe affiliation need for Caritas NursiNg
• The need for affiliation is a universal human need and it forms
the core of humanism.
• This need is the basis for one’s cooperative undertakings with
others in the world and the foundation for relating to self and
others.
• Affiliation behaviors are manifested differently by different peo-
ple on a continuum of privacy-separation of oneself to intimacy
and closeness with others. This is a learned process through
cooperative experiences, interactions, and participation.
• The primary group family best provides the relationship and
environment necessary for development of this need.

• The affiliation need and its manifestation are affected by health-
illness changes, hospitalization, and treatment regimes.
• During health-illness changes, a person has a reduced capacity
for others and a heightened need for quality relationships over
quantity of relationships.
• The Carative Factors/Caritas Processes that accompany this spe-
cific need most prominently are numbers 4: developing helping-
trusting-caring relationships and 6: creative problem solving.

Human need for self-aCtualization/sPiritual groWtH
Modern mainstream personality theories have acknowledged that
every human being has an internal striving to become, to grow, to
fulfill self. This striving is referred to commonly as the need for self-
actualization. It is considered a universal human need and is manifest
in unique ways.
As Siddhartha expressed it (Hesse 1951:31): “[W]hat was it they
could not teach you? And he thought: It was the Self, the character and
nature of which I wished to learn. . . . Truly nothing in the world has
occupied my thoughts as much as the Self . . . that I am one and am
separated and different from everybody else, that I am Siddhartha.”
This reference reflects the reality that every person in certain
respects is:

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