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CHAPTER 13 Martha E. Rogers 223

were beginning to affect the development of knowl- Nursing exists for the care of people and the life
edge within all disciplines. With the general system process of humans.
theory, the term negentropy was brought into use
to signify increasing order, complexity, and heteroge- Person
neity in direct contrast to the previously held belief Rogers defines person as an open system in continuous
that the universe was winding down. Rogers, how- process with the open system that is the environment
ever, refined and purified the general system theory (integrality). She defines unitary human being as an
by denying hierarchical subsystems, the concept of “irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field
single causation, and the predictability of a system’s identified by pattern and manifesting characteristics
behavior through investigations of its parts. that are specific to the whole” (Rogers, 1992, p. 29).
Introducing quantum theory and the theories of Human beings “are not disembodied entities, nor are
relativity and of probability fundamentally challenged they mechanical aggregates. . . . Man is a unified
the prevailing absolutism. As new knowledge escalated, whole possessing his own integrity and manifesting
the traditional meanings of homeostasis, steady state, characteristics that are more than and different from
adaptation,and equilibrium were questioned seriously. the sum of his parts” (Rogers, 1970, pp. 46–47).
The closed-system, entropic model of the universe was Within a conceptual model specific to nursing’s con-
no longer adequate to explain phenomena, and evi- cern, people and their environment are perceived as
dence accumulated in support of a universe of open irreducible energy fields integral with one another and
systems (Rogers, 1994b). Continuing development continuously creative in their evolution.
within other disciplines of the acausal, nonlinear dy-
namics of life validated Rogers’ model. Most notable Health
of this development is that of chaos theory, quantum Rogers uses the term health in many of her earlier
physics’ contribution to the science of complexity (or writings without clearly defining the term. She uses
wholeness), which blurs the boundaries between the the term passive health to symbolize wellness and the
disciplines, allowing exploration and deepening of the absence of disease and major illness (Rogers, 1970).
understanding of the totality of human experience. Her promotion of positive health connotes direction
in helping people with opportunities for rhythmic
Major Assumptions consistency (Rogers, 1970). Later, she wrote that well-
ness “is a much better term . . . because the term
Nursing health is very ambiguous” (Rogers, 1994b, p. 34).
Nursing is a learned profession and is both a science Rogers uses health as a value term defined by the
and an art. It is an empirical science and, like other culture or the individual. Health and illness are mani-
sciences, it lies in the phenomenon central to its festations of pattern and are considered “to denote
focus. Rogerian nursing focuses on concern with behaviors that are of high value and low value” (Rogers,
people and the world in which they live—a natural fit 1980). Events manifested in the life process indicate the
for nursing care, as it encompasses people and their extent to which a human being achieves maximum
environments. The integrality of people and their health according to some value system. In Rogerian
environments, operating from a pandimensional uni- science, the phenomenon central to nursing’s concep-
verse of open systems, points to a new paradigm and tual system is the human life process. The life process
initiates the identity of nursing as a science. The pur- has its own dynamic and creative unity that is insepa-
pose of nursing is to promote health and well-being rable from the environment and is characterized by
for all persons. The art of nursing is the creative use of the whole (Rogers, 1970). Using this definition as a
the science of nursing for human betterment (Rogers, foundation for their research, Gueldner, and colleagues
1994b). “Professional practice in nursing seeks to (2005) postulate that a human being’s sense of well-
promote symphonic interaction between human and being (wellness) manifests itself by higher frequency
environmental fields, to strengthen the integrity of and increasing pattern diversity.
the human field, and to direct and redirect patterning In “Dimensions of Health: A View from Space,”
of the human and environmental fields for realization Rogers (1986b) reaffirms the original theoretical asser-
of maximum health potential” (Rogers, 1970, p. 122). tions, adding philosophical challenges to the prevailing