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362 UNIT IV Nursing Theories

MAJOR CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS—cont’d
nurtured, each expressing self and recognizing the embody the lived experience of nursing situations
other as caring person (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 2001a). involving the nurse and the nursed. As a repository
of nursing knowledge, any single nursing situation
Nursing Response has the potential to illuminate the depth and com-
In responding to thenursing call, the nurse enters plexity of the experience as lived, that is, the caring
the nursing situation with the intention of knowing that takes place between the nurse and the one
the other person as caring. This knowing of person nursed. The content of nursing knowledge is gener-
clarifies the call for nursing and shapes the nursing ated, developed, conserved, and known through the
response, transforming the knowledge brought by lived experience of nursing situations (Boykin &
the nurse to the situation from general, to particular Schoenhofer, 2001a). The nursing situation as a unit
and unique (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 2001a). The of knowledge and practice is re-created in narrative
nursing response is co-created in the immediacy of or story (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 1991). Nursing situ-
what truly matters and is a specific expression of ations are best communicated through aesthetic
caring nurturance to sustain and enhance the other media such as storytelling, poetry, graphic arts, and
living and growing in caring. Nursing responses to dance to preserve the lived meaning of the situation
calls for caring evolve as nurses clarify their under- and the openness of the situation through text. These
standing of calls through presence and dialogue. media provide time and space for reflecting and for
Such responses are uniquely created for the moment creativity in advancing understanding (Boykin &
and cannot be predicted or applied as preplanned Schoenhofer, 1991, 2001a, 2006; Boykin, Parker, &
protocols (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 1997). Schoenhofer, 1994). Story as method re-creates and
re-presents the essence of the experience, making the
Story as Method for Knowing Nursing knowledge of nursing available for further study
Story is a method for knowing nursing and a me- (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 2001a).
dium for all forms of nursing inquiry. Nursing stories

Use of Empirical Evidence valuing of person in ways that communicate “value
The assumptions of Nursing as Caring ground the added” richness of the nursing experience (Boykin,
practice of nursing in knowing, enhancing, and Schoenhofer, Smith, et al., 2003, p. 225). Character-
illuminating the caring between the nurse and the istics of personhood are essential to the theory,
one nursed. As such, rather than providing empiri- such as unity, wholeness, awareness, and intention.
cal variables from which hypotheses and testable In Nursing as Caring, outcomes of nursing are
predictions are made, the theory of nursing as caring articulated in terms that are subjective and descrip-
qualitatively transforms practice. In the theory, per- tive, rather than objective and predictive (Boykin &
sons are unique and unpredictable in the moment Schoenhofer, 1997).
and therefore cannot and should not be manipulated
or objectified as testable, researchable variables. Ellis
believed that theories should reveal the knowledge Major Assumptions
that nurses must, and should, spend time pursuing Fundamental beliefs about what it means to be
(Algase & Whall, 1993). The Theory of Nursing as human undergird the Theory of Nursing as Caring.
Caring reveals the essentiality of recognizing caring Boykin and Schoenhofer (2001a) address six major
between the nurse and the one nursed as substantive assumptions that reflect a set of values to provide a
knowledge that nurses must pursue. From this per- basis for understanding and explicating the meaning
spective, the outcomes of nursing care reflect the of nursing.