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172 UNIT II Nursing Philosophies

development of caring science in connection with a research program for caring science, was created.
her professorship at Åbo Akademi University. The result of her planning was the Department of Car-
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Eriksson worked ing Science in 1987. It became an autonomous depart-
in various fields of nursing practice and continued ment within the Faculty of Education of Åbo Akademi
her studies at the same time. Her main area of work University until 1992, when a Faculty of Social and
has been in teaching and research. Since the 1970s, Caring Sciences was founded. Eriksson developed an
Eriksson has systematically deepened her thoughts academic education for Masters and Doctoral degrees
about caring, partly through development of an ideal in Caring Science. The doctoral program started in
model for caring that formed the basis for the carita- 1987 under Eriksson’s direction, and 44 doctoral dis-
tive caring theory, and partly through the develop- sertations have been published.
ment of an autonomous, humanistically oriented With her staff and researchers, Eriksson has further
caring science. Eriksson, one of the few caring sci- developed the caritative theory of caring and caring
ence researchers in the Nordic countries, developed science as an academic discipline. The department has
a caring theory and is a forerunner of basic research a leading position in the Nordic countries with stu-
in caring science. dents and researchers. In addition to her work with
Eriksson’s scientific career and professional experi- teaching, research, and supervision, Eriksson has been
ence comprise two periods: the years 1970 to 1986 the dean of the Department of Caring Science. One
at Helsinki Swedish School of Nursing, and the period of her central tasks has been to develop Nordic and
from 1986, when she founded the Department of international contacts within caring science.
Caring Science at Åbo Akademi University, which she Eriksson has been a very popular guest and keynote
has directed since 1987. speaker, not only in Finland, but in all the Nordic
In 1972, after teaching for 2 years at the nursing countries and at various international congresses. In
education unit at Helsinki Swedish School of Nursing, 1977, she was a guest speaker at the Symposium of
Eriksson was assigned to start and develop an educa- Medical and Nursing Education in Istanbul, Turkey;
tional program to prepare nurse educators at that in 1978, she participated in the Foundation of Medical
institution. Such a program taught in the Swedish lan- Care teacher education in Reykjavik, Iceland; in 1982,
guage had not existed in Finland. This education she presented her nursing care didactic model at the
program, in collaboration with University of Helsinki, First Open Conference of the Workgroup of European
was the beginning of caring science didactics. Under Nurse-Researchers in Uppsala, Sweden; and for several
Eriksson’s leadership, Helsinki Swedish School of years, she participated in education and advanced edu-
Nursing developed a leading educational program in cation of nurses at the Statens Utdanningscenter for
caring science and nursing in the Nordic countries. Helsopersonell in Oslo, Norway. In 1988, Eriksson
It was the forerunner of education based on caring sci- taught “Basic Research in Nursing Care Science” at
ence and integration of research in education. Eriksson the University in Bergen, Norway, and “Nursing Care
was in charge of the program for 2 years, until she Science’s Theory of Science and Research” at Umeå
became dean at Helsinki Swedish School of Nursing in University in Sweden. She consulted at many educa-
1974. She remained the dean until 1986, when she was tional institutions in Sweden; she has been a regular
nominated to start academic education and research at lecturer at Nordiska Hälsovårdsskolan in Gothenburg,
Åbo Akademi University. Sweden. In 1991, she was a guest speaker at the 13th
Toward the end of the 1980s, nursing science be- International Association for Human Caring (IAHC)
came a university subject in Finland, and professorial Conference in Rochester, New York; in 1992, she pre-
chairs were established at four Finnish universities and sented her theory at the 14th IAHC Conference in
at Åbo Akademi University, the Finland-Swedish uni- Melbourne, Australia; and in 1993, she was the key-
versity. In 1986, Eriksson was called to plan an educa- note speaker at the 15th IAHC Conference, Caring as
tion and research program within the subject of caring Healing: Renewal Through Hope, in Portland, Oregon
science at Åbo Akademi University’s Faculty of Educa- (Eriksson, 1994b).
tion in Vaasa, Finland. A fully developed education Eriksson has been a yearly keynote speaker at the
program for health care, with three focus options and annual congresses for nurse managers and, since 1996,