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CHAPTER 35 Kristen M. Swanson 689

Caring and miscarriage became the focus of her doc- Theoretical Sources
toral dissertation and subsequently her program of Swanson has drawn on various theoretical sources
research. while developing her Theory of Caring. She recalls
Swanson received an individually awarded National that from the beginning of her nursing career, her
Research Service postdoctoral fellowship from the education and clinical experience made her acutely
National Center for Nursing Research, which she aware of the profound difference caring made in the
completed under the direction of Dr. Kathryn E. lives of people she served:
Barnard at the University of Washington in Seattle. Watching patients move into a space of total depen-
She joined the faculty at the University of Washington dency and come out the other side restored was like
School of Nursing and continued her scholarly work witnessing miracles unfold. Sitting with spouses in
as professor and chairperson of the Department of the waiting room while they entrusted the heart
Family Child Nursing until summer 2009. In addi- (and lives) of their partner to the surgical team was
tion to teaching and administrative responsibilities awe inspiring. It was encouraging to observe the
at the University of Washington, She conducted re- inner reserves family members could call upon in
search funded by the National Institutes of Nursing order to hand over that which they could not con-
Research; published, mentored faculty and students, trol. It warmed my heart to be so privileged as to be
and served as a consultant at national and interna- invited into the spaces that patients and families
tional levels. She has been an invited speaker or created in order to endure their transitions through
visiting professor on multiple occasions, including illness, recovery, and, in some instances, death
Karolinska Institute in Sweden, IWK (Isaac Walton (Swanson, 2001, p. 412).
Killam) Health Centre, a tertiary care hospital for
women, children, and families in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Swanson credits several nursing scholars for insights
Canada, and, most recently, the National Cheng that shaped her beliefs about the nursing discipline and
Kung University in Taiwan, Taiwan. While at the influenced her program of research. She acknowledges
University of Washington in 2009, Swanson also Dr. Jacqueline Fawcett’s course on the conceptual basis
held the University of Washington Medical Center of nursing practice, which led her to understand the
Term Professorship in Nursing Leadership. differences between the goals of nursing and other
In 2009, Swanson was appointed Dean and health disciplines, and to realize that caring for others as
Alumni Distinguished Professor at the University of they go through life transitions of health, illness, heal-
North Carolina (UNC) School of Nursing at Chapel ing, and dying was congruent with her personal values
Hill and Associate Chief Nursing Officer for Aca- (Swanson, 2001). Swanson chose Dr. Jean Watson as
demic Affairs at UNC Hospitals. Dr. Swanson con- mentor during her doctoral studies. She attributes the
tinues her scholarship, which in recent years shifted emphasis on exploring the concept of caring in her doc-
to translational research and consulting with vari- toral dissertation to Dr. Watson’s influence. However,
ous organizations to enact the Theory of Caring in despite the close working relationship and emphasis on
clinical practice, education, and research. Her ser- caring in Swanson’s dissertation, Swanson’s program of
vice contributions include service on the editorial research on caring and miscarriage is not an application
board or reviewer for Journal of Nursing Scholarship, of Watson’s Theory of Human Caring (Watson, 1979,
Nursing Outlook, Research in Nursing and Health,and 1988, 1999). Instead, both Swanson and Watson assert
the International Journal of Human Caring. In recog- that compatibility of findings on caring in their indi-
nition of many outstanding contributions to the vidual programs of research adds credibility to their
nursing discipline, among other honors, Swanson theoretical assertions (Swanson, 2001). Swanson ac-
was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of knowledges Dr. Kathryn E. Barnard for encouraging
Nursing in 1991, received a Distinguished Alumnus her transition from the interpretive to a contemporary
Award from the University of Rhode Island in 2002, empiricist paradigm and for transferring caring
and was selected as a fellow for the Robert Wood knowledge from her phenomenological investigations
Johnson Foundation Nurse Executive Fellows pro- to intervention research and clinical practice with
gram in 2004. women who have miscarried.