Jean Watson's Theory Of Caring In Nursing Practice

Caring is the essence of nursing. As a nurse, we establish a caring relationship with our patients, and provide the best individualize care and interventions to promote healing. Jean Watson’s focus of practice is the patient and the theory places the patient in the context of the family, the community and the culture. The major concepts of Jean Watson’s theory of caring are transpersonal caring relationships, caring moments/caring occasions and the ten caritas processes. I will describe how this theory can be applied in practice and show an example from my own practice.

Jean Watson’s theory of transpersonal caring defines the outcome of nursing activity in regard to the humanistic aspects of life. This theory involves the philosophy and science of caring. Watson’s model is based around the caring process, assisting patients in maintaining health or in dying peacefully. “Care can be considered simply an ethical task and thus a burden of one more thing to do, or it can be considered a commitment to attending to and becoming enthusiastically involved in the patient’s needs” (Applying the Ethics of Care to your Nursing Practice, page 116). In this model, nurses need to be knowledgeable about human behavior and responses to health problems, individual needs, how to respond to others, and the strengths and limitations of the patient and family. The nurse also comforts and offers compassion, and empathy to the patient and family.

There are many concepts in Jean Watson’s Theory of caring. The three major concepts that will be discussed are: transpersonal caring relationship, caring occasion/caring moment and the ten caritas processes. Transpersonal caring relationship is defined as the foundation of work. It is a moral com...

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...d I told her that I am Catholic. Before I called her family to sit with her, she asked me to pray with her so I did. I sat down, held her hand and prayed with her. She also asked a favor, to tell the other nurses to refer to her baby as a her baby not a fetus. It is probably one my most memorable caring moments. As for the ten caritas processes, not only we can utilize this process into use when delivering health care to the patients but also apply this process to our families and loved ones. In order for nurses to deliver the best care to patients, we need to start from within by utilizing this process into our lives.

In conclusion, Jean Watson’s theory represents that caring is the essence of nursing. The theory provides many useful concepts for the practice of nursing which gives guidance to apply them in practice, research and everyday life experiences.