Jean Watson Theory

Jean Watson “was born and grew up in the small town of Welch, West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains” (Jesse & Alligood, 2014, p. 79). Watson attended and graduated the Lewis Gale School of Nursing in 1961 before moving to Colorado and completing the remainder of her degrees at the University of Colorado (Jesse & Alligood, 2014). She holds a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. “Watson and her colleagues established the Center for Human Caring” (Jesse & Alligood, 2014, p. 80). She has also received six honorary doctorate degrees, the Fetzer Institute’s national Norman Cousins award and is recognized as a distinguished Nurse Scholar. Watson has also been the author of 11 books and has helped write six more (Jesse & Alligood,

Irvan Yalom inspired Watson’s 10 carative factors. Watson (2010), states that Florence Nightingale “called forth and made explicit the connection between and among all aspects of self, other, humanity, the environment, nature, and the cosmos as a means of learning, understanding, and connecting health, caring, and healing” (p. 107). The emphasis she put on the interpersonal and transpersonal qualities of congruence, empathy, and warmth were attributed to the views of Carl Rogers and points out his view “that nurses are not here to manipulate and control others but rather to understand” (Jesse & Alligood, 2014, p.

The first factor, Formation of a Humanistic Altruistic System of Values, is defined as satisfaction through giving and extension of the sense of self. Next, Instillation of Faith-Hope facilitates the promotion of holistic nursing care and positive health within the patient population (Jesse & Alligood, 2014). Third, Cultivation of Sensitivity to Self and Others expresses “the recognition of feelings leads to self-actualization through self-acceptance for both the nurse and patient” (Jesse & Alligood, 2014, p. 83). The Development of a Helping-Trust Relationship factor promotes and accepts the expression of both positive and negative feelings and involves congruence, empathy, non-possessive warmth, and effective communication. The fifth concept, Promotion and Acceptance of the Expression of Positive and Negative Feelings explains that the nurse must be prepared for either one and identify that intellectual and emotional understandings of a situation differ. Systematic use of the Scientific Problem-Solving Method for Decision Making brings a scientific problem-solving approach to nursing care dissipating the nurse as the doctor’s handmaiden image (Jesse & Alligood, 2014). The seventh concept, Promotion of Interpersonal Teaching-Learning, separates caring from curing and “allows the patient to be informed and shifts responsibility for wellness and health to the patient”