The Concept of Caring My understanding of caring has always meant showing love, compassion, empathy and kindness to anyone in any circumstance. This has not changed but has widened my understanding of what caring is as I was able to participate in the mask making process and analyze the different literatures of this course. The purpose of this paper to show how my knowledge of caring grew. First I will explain my understanding of caring prior to the mask making, and then explain how my understanding of caring has changed after making the mask and exploring the course literature. The concept of caring has always been easy for me to understand, and to show to other, as it was something I was taught at a young age. To me, caring is showing love, kindness, and putting the needs of others before your own. This is always easier said than done, but it is basis for what caring is, making caring a word and action with a lot of depth to it. I have recently come to know the meaning of caring on a whole new level, and sometimes it can be a challenging thing to do. To illustrate my pre understanding of what caring was before, I thought this personal story would …show more content…
Hartrick Doane and Varcoe (2015) describe being curious as being interested, inquisitive and open to the idea of being unsure. Also that being curious and not knowing is the way to show knowledgable and compassionate care (Hartrick Doane and Varcoe, 2015. p.115). I would have never thought that being uncertain and caring go together. But as I began to think about it, it made more sense to me. Being unsure is what drives you to want to care for someone. You want to make sure that when they feel uneasy about something, you are right there to help them. When the future for a patient is uncertain, you want to do your best to make sure that they are cared for in the appropriate manner. This opened up a whole new perspective of caring for
Leo Buscaglia once said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” In the field of nursing, this concept could not be illustrated more profoundly. The trait of caring within nursing is arguably the most important trait that a nurse could possess. It can be defined in various ways, but to me, caring is the act of being moved or compelled to action by feelings of compassion, empathy, sympathy, anger, intention, sadness, fear, happiness, protection, enlightenment, or love in light of another human being. There are many aspects to the term “caring”. It is an ever-present shape shifter, swiftly
Caring is the “central theme and core of nursing caring tapestry” (Otterbein University, 2009, p. 2). When developing caring characteristics as a nurse and caring interventions, this in return helps
Personal knowing focuses on experiencing and knowing self and others. Carper (1978) indicated that personal knowing is the most difficult to master and teach. As personal knowing is identifying and knowing oneself through interaction and relationships, this would be very difficult to teach in a classroom. Zander (2011) further supported this thought, specifically that “personal knowing could only be achieved through complex interpersonal relationships.” (PAGE). The qualities of authenticity, genuineness, and wholeness are also associated with personal knowing (Chinn & Kramer, 2011). These qualities help to identify what is true about oneself and how to display that truth with others, mostly through relationships and interactions. This is very important in nursing, as who we are affects patient
While ethics theories often focus on justice, care, an "equally valid moral perspective," is usually disregarded because of male bias (Sterba, p. 52). The two perspectives are often harmonious, but a need for care point of view precedence exists. While truth is evident in both these statements, the problem of distinguishing between them becomes apparent soon after.
She proposed that caring and love are universal and mysterious (Wagner, 2010). Watson believes that health professionals make moral, social, and scientific contributions to humanity and that a nurses' caring ideal can affect human development (Wagner, 2010). Watson believes that it is imperative in today's society to maintain a caring ideology in practice (Wagner, 2010). Caring is a concept that focuses on having a respectful, non-judgmental, supportive attitude that contributes to the healing process. Watson's theory, in relationship to the metaparadigm of nursing, focuses on the relationship between the nurse and the patient (Wagner, 2010). According to Watson's theory, the nurse and patient form a caring relationship where both the patient and the nurse promote healing (Wagner, 2010). In general, the theory of caring reminds us that a nurse can have a great impact on the life of a patient. If I were to add a new conceptual metaparadigm, it would be the concept of caring since I firmly believe that without caring it will be almost impossible to have wellness at all. If I were to choose one metaparadigm concept to eliminate, I would opt to remove the concept of health since I think that in the concepts of caring and nursing the individual's health should be fully
Self-esteem has to do with the value you place on yourself and your abilities regardless of what anyone thinks or says. According to Smith and Mackie in 2007, Self-Esteem was defined as follows: “The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it.”
Compassion is a type of meditation therapy which is used recently. As a new topic, at least for me, this encouraged me to learn about this topic and gave me the idea for my paper. Compassion has many definitions, one of these definitions is the feeling that emerges in witnessing another's suffering and that motivates a following desire to help (Goetz, Keltner, & Thomas, 2010). Hofmann, Grossman, and Hinton (2011) describe compassion as a path leading to greater awareness, aimed to focus awareness upon alleviation of the suffering of all sensitive beings. Moreover, compassion is thought to have arisen as the affective element of a caregiving system, designed to help raise vulnerable progeny to the age of viability (Goetz, Keltner, & Thomas, 2010).
Caring can be described in many different ways. One demonstration of caring is when a nurse at a hospital helps those who are physically ill become well again. Caring also practices involvement in the connection, mutual recognition and involvement between nurse and client. "The Community Health Nursing: Caring in Action” (1999) defines “those assistive, enabling, supportive, or facilitative behaviors toward or for another individual or group to promote health, prevent disease, and facilitate healing”(p.6). Another definition from another author such as (Harkreader, 2000) wrote, sees caring as a universal behaviour observed in human beings and influenced by Society, culture, values and gender”(p.1450). Thus, nurses would certainly agree that caring is important in everyday life.
One of the theories of nursing is Dorothea Orem’s self-care theory, also called the self-care deficit theory. Nursing theories are important for several reasons. The profession is strengthened when knowledge is built on sound theory (Black, 2014). Theory is important for reasoning, thinking, decision-making, and supporting excellence in practice (Black, 2014). Dorothea Orem’s theory is a conceptual model that provides a structure for critical thinking in the nursing process (Black, 2014). A conceptual model provides a comprehensive and holistic perspective of nursing (Black, 2014). Orem published her theory in 1959 and continued to develop her model, eventually formalizing three interrelated theories: theory of self-care, theory of self-care deficit, and theory of nursing system (Black, 2014). The focus of Orem’s model is the patient’s self-care capacity. The process helps to design a nursing process specific to each patient that will provide for the self-care deficit of the patient (Black, 2014). Self-care deficits exist when the patient has limitations and the self-care requirement is greater than he patient’s capacity (Manzini & Simonetti, 2009).
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”
Held (2005) suggests that there is a collective commitment to care of others. Individuals put themselves in a secondary role to benefit and promote the well-being of others. There is an emphasis on practice and value. Pettersen (2011) and Held (2005) contend that the ethics of care recognizes that the caregiver must also protect themselves while promoting a cooperative relationship. The practice of care is done by expressing empathy and working on an attitude and standards which nurtures morally satisfactory
In order to understand how one perceives situations and how they can determine the way one communicates; we first must understand the value of self-concept. Self is easily defined; it is one's beliefs, attitudes, feelings and values. It is who one is and what one stands for. Self-concept, is a relevantly stable set of perceptions and emotional states. It is the way one sees and understands oneself, and contributes to how one perceives oneself and perceives situations. One's self-concept may alter their perception, and either enhance or impede one's communication effectiveness. The way one sees oneself can influence the way they see their social surroundings. Only after one become aware of oneself can they be aware of their physical and social surroundings, which will allow one to perceive situations and people with a truer idea and create a more positive outcome.
Self-concept is defined as the knowledge, a multi-dimensional construct, of an individu-al’s perception one may have about his or herself such as personality traits, physical characteris-tics, abilities, values, goals, and roles. During my infancy stage, I started to organize and acquire information, which helped me to recognize the perception of self in the social world. As a child, I learned how to interact in the social world from the environment and my learning experiences. The self-concept is an internal model, which refers to my physical characteristics, hobbies, occu-pation, abilities, skills, personality, etc. My self-concepts refer to my personal social identity. A significant factor in self-concept is an individual’s self-perceptions and how he or she interacts in the social world is.
Too often we underestimate the power of a kind word, the embrace of a hug, the warmth of a smile, the open-minded listening ear, a simple compliment, or a humble act of compassion. Too often we underestimate the potential we hold within us to turn a life around. Compassion is the ultimate expression of one’s highest self. Is compassion nearly as difficult as some portray? The compassionate heart is as natural as flowers blossoming on a warm and bright summer day. Compassion flows through our hearts exactly as the warmth of hot chocolate streaming through our bodies on a frosty winter night. That same warmth that is felt when drinking hot chocolate, is felt when compassion is radiated onto someone in need. Love and compassion play hand in hand, you do not possess one without the other. The compassionate heart is one filled with love, joy, passion, and grace; yet also comes with a price. Even though compassion comes with a price, compassion has the magic to heal sorrow.
Self-care is a necessary practice in everyone’s life. This practice allows people to relax and replenished themselves. The first time I heard of this term was in during one of my social work classes. As we began to discuss self-care it became clear, that without proper self-care people, not just social workers are doing themselves a disservice. Self-care encompasses more than general rest. Self-care deals with emotional wellbeing, good health and spiritual wellbeing. All of these areas are key to having good self-care. The reading provides a good description self-care, it stated that self-care is achieving an equilibrium across our personal school and work lives. Achieving equilibrium in my personal life will only increase my ability to support and help others.