Nursing Administration: Watson's Theory of Human Caring.

Watson's human caring theory is widely used in nursing clinical practice, education, and research; however, further discussion on the application of this theory in administration is needed. The authors in this article aim to substruct Watson's theory of human caring for nursing administration. Major elements of the theory-transpersonal caring dimensions, caring competencies, and caring moments-are presented in a model of substruction that links the theoretical basis to methodology. In conclusion, this theory can be used as a framework or a conceptual model in nursing administration within an organization.

Revisiting 'Discipline' in Relation to Caring Science as Sacred Science: Revisiting Discipline of Nursing.

The purpose of this manuscript is to invite a revisiting of the concept of the "discipline" of Nursing, with attention to the spiritual consciousness of "Nurse" within the sacred concept of self-caring and caring-healing consciousness. The notion of including the spiritual, evolving consciousness of "Nurse," in harmony with evolution of Professional Nursing, is congruent with a mature disciplinary matrix of caring science as sacred science. This congruence between Nurse/Nursing contributes to the evolution of Nursing, Holistic Practices and Era III unitary transformative disciplinary thinking.

Watson's View of Nursing Science Quarterly's 35th Anniversary.

This paper celebrates NSQ over the past 35 years, acknowledging its role in advancing and sustaining nursing as a distinct discipline, guided by unique knowledge, theories, and a maturing nursing science paradigm. A play on the number 35 can be considered significant and symbolic in numerology-as 35 represents the number 8. Eight represents wholeness, infinity, harmony, and leadership-all characteristics that NSQ has stood for as a leading nursing science publication.

Nursing Is the Light in Institutional Darkness: A Dialogue With Dr. Jean Watson.

The year 2022 is Nursing Science Quarterly's 35th year in publication, and we are interested in dialoging with some of the discipline's nurse theorists. We hope to uncover some influences and origins of their theoretical thinking and hear about their current projects related to nursing science. In this Scholarly Dialogue column, we dialogue with Dr. Jean Watson, nurse theorist, director of the Watson Caring Science Institute, and Distinguished Professor/Dean Emerita of University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing.

COVID-19: An Organizational-theory-guided Holistic Self-caring and Resilience Project.

Purpose: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global human caring crisis, this article describes an innovative, theory-guided, holistic practice project at a major academic medical center in Northern California. The purpose of this theory-guided COVID-19 project was to address the self-care needs of caregivers so they could better care for patients/families who are confronting daily pandemic demands. Study design: The organization's professional practices are guided by Watson's theory of human caring and Caritas Processes. This setting has 16 Caritas Coaches® who have acquired expertise in human caring from an accredited program of the Watson Caring Science Institute (www.watsoncaringscience.org). Methods: Caritas Coaches® were mobilized to implement holistic caring-healing modalities such as aromatherapy and mindfulness meditation throughout the organization. Findings: By addressing the self-care needs of caregivers, the organizational culture shifted from fear, fatigue, stress, and burnout, to more intentional conscious, mindful, caring presence, gratitude, and purpose. Conclusion: This study has implications for other institutions regarding theory-guided practice and system responses to self-care needs of staff. This study provides an overview of the project from its origin to implementation and outcomes.

A unitary caring science resilience-building model: Unifying the human caring theory and research-informed psychology and neuroscience evidence.

Resilience is the psychological capability to recover from difficulties quickly. Healthcare professionals are especially vulnerable to job-related stress and burnout. Unitary Caring Science is the framework for Watson's Human Caring Theory, providing a philosophy of practice in healthcare. With the high rates of clinician burnout and psychological issues, it will be significant to unify the human caring theory with research-informed psychological and neuroscience evidence to develop clinicians' resilience-building strategies. The purpose of this article is to introduce a Unitary Caring Science Resilience Model and explain the science behind the core strategies based on Unitary Caring Science philosophy and the psychological and neuroscience research. This model includes six strategies: Embracing loving-kindness for self and others; Nurturing interpersonal and intersubjective connections/relations; Deepening a creative use of self and sense of belonging; Balancing self-learning, self-awareness, and an evolved self-consciousness; Valuing forgiveness and releasing negativity; Inspiring and maintaining faith-hope. The caring-theory guided resilience-building strategies are proven to alleviate the depletion of clinicians' energy and emotions. Healthcare practices are challenging but rewarding. Clinicians can be emotionally, psychologically, and physically exhausted if they always consider themselves 'giving' and 'doing' institutional tasks without a sense of purpose or fulfillment. The practice can be rewarding if it becomes more aligned with clinicians' value to serve humanity. Through the unitary caring science resilience strategies, clinicians can build resilience as an antidote to clinician burnout and depletion.

The meaning of postpartum sexual health for women living in Spain: a phenomenological inquiry.

BACKGROUND: Sexual health is a multidimensional phenomenon constructed by personal, social, and cultural factors but continues to be studied with a biomedical approach. During the postpartum period, a woman transitions to mother, as well as partner-to-parent and couple-to-family. There are new realities in life in the postpartum period, including household changes and new responsibilities that can impact the quality of sexual health. This phenomenon is understudied especially in the context of Spain. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of postpartum sexual health among primiparous women giving birth in Catalonia (Spain). METHODS: This was a phenomenological study with a purposive sample of primiparous women. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews until saturation. Analysis followed Colaizzi's seven-step process with an eighth translation step added to limit cross-cultural threats to validity. Also, the four dimensions of trustworthiness were established through strategies and techniques during data collection and analysis. RESULTS: Ten women were interviewed from which five themes emerged, including: Not feeling ready, inhibiting factors, new reality at home, socio-cultural factors, and the clinician within the health system. Returning to sexual health led women to engage in experiential learning through trial and error. Most participants reported reduced libido, experienced altered body image, and recounted resumption of sexual activity before feeling ready. A common finding was fatigue and feeling overloaded by the demands of the newborn. Partner support was described as essential to returning to a meaningful relationship. Discussions about postpartum sexual health with clinicians were described as taboo, and largely absent from the care model. CONCLUSION: Evidence-based practices should incorporate the best evidence from research, consider the postpartum sexual health experiences and preferences of the woman, and use clinician expertise in discussions that include the topic of postpartum sexual health to make decisions. As such, human caring practices should be incorporated into clinical guidelines to recognize the preferences of women. Clinicians need to be authentically present, engage in active communication, and individualize their care. More qualitative studies are needed to understand postpartum sexual health in different contexts, cultures, and countries and to identify similarities and differences through meta-synthesis.

Academic caring pedagogy, presence, and Communitas in nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Strong faculty academic human caring presence is paramount during the exponential use of asynchronous, remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to provide a holistic, theoretical foundation for evidence informed-caring pedagogical practices. METHODS: Watson's (2008; 2018) Unitary Caring Science theoretical approach offers one pedagogical caring framework for advancing teaching-learning in the digital age. DISCUSSION: Examples to humanize the virtual classroom and remote or online teaching include narrative, theory-guided pedagogical approaches, such as creation of caring spaces and other modalities to transcend physical distancing and nurture Communitas (caring community) among of faculty and students. CONCLUSION: A theory-guided, holistic caring pedagogical approach supports the needs of both faculty and nursing students.

Nursing Theory in the Quest for the Sustainable Development Goals.

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are intended to promote a safe, healthy, and equitable world by the year 2030. Nurses are at the forefront of realizing the 2030 agenda through concerned citizenship and professional leadership. Nursing theory informs knowledge development and theory-guided practice essential for nurses working in all domains and in all nations. Although all extant nursing theories are relevant, a select few are discussed in detail to make explicit the links between theory and SDG realization. Middle-range theories are also valuable in helping to contextualize nursing practice through the lens of the SDGs. The SDGs address five themes - People, Planet, Peace, Prosperity, and Partnership - and theory remains vital to ensure nurses working in all settings are equipped to meet the needs of humanity and the world, now and in the future.

Embodying Caring Science as Islamic Philosophy of Care: Implications for Nursing Practice.

Despite the diversity and complexity of nursing theories, including those embedded with a philosophy of caring, few if any have aligned their assumptions with an Islamic philosophy of caring. To do so would call into question the compatibility of such caring for some Muslim scholars. The purpose of this article is to understand how and why an Islamic philosophy of care can be taken up through an application of Watson's caring science. In doing so, a broader understanding of caring is provided for nurses and other health care providers who work with Muslim communities in the context of care provision.

Evaluating Changes in Caring Behaviors of Caritas Coaches Pre and Post the Caritas Coach Education Program.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine program effectiveness in changing Caritas leadership, self-caring behaviors, and perceptions of coworkers of participants who completed the Caritas Coach Education Program (CCEP). BACKGROUND: The CCEP has been a highly successful education program for individuals who wish to intellectually and experientially learn to teach, live, and practice human caring theory. METHODS: A pretest-posttest descriptive design was used to evaluate changes in perceptions of self-caring, caritas leadership, and coworker behaviors after completion of CCEP. RESULTS: The mean scores of all measures improved significantly. CONCLUSIONS: After completion of CCEP, participants demonstrated statistically significant changes in 3 caritas measures: leadership, coworker, and self-rating. Caritas Coach participants exhibited the greatest change in their self-caring scores.

Healthcare interprofessional team members' perspectives on human caring: A directed content analysis study.

OBJECTIVES: As Watson's Human Caring Theory continues to evolve and guide the discipline of nursing, the challenge is to find ways to integrate it into practice. The purpose of this study is to describe interprofessional team members' perspectives on human caring based on the Ten Caritas Processes®/Caritas-Veritas Literacy of Watson's Human Caring Theory within the Unitary Caring Science. METHODS: This is a qualitative directed content analysis study, taking place in a Children's Hospital in the United States between November 2017 and April 2018. Information redundancy was utilized to guide the recruitment. Data were collected via a one-time face-to-face individual interview. A qualitative directed content analysis was conducted using Watson's Ten Caritas Processes®/Caritas-Veritas Literacy as a coding framework. RESULTS: Twenty-seven healthcare professionals participated in the study. Interprofessional human caring, based on the Ten Caritas Processes®/Caritas-Veritas Literacy, was referred to as performing loving-kindness to patients, each other, and self; maintaining faith-hope in teamwork; valuing inter-subjective interactions and building trust among team members; cultivating heart-centered-caring relations; acknowledging and processing positive and negative feelings non-judgmentally; applying all ways of knowing in caring; encouraging reciprocal teaching-learning; developing caring-healing environments collaboratively; respecting human dignity of patients and each other; and being open-minded to the unknowns and believing in miracles. CONCLUSIONS: Watson's Human Caring Theory can be an underlying guide to enrich human-to-human relations and create a caring-healing environment. When human caring is applied in interprofessional teams, healthcare professionals find a caring consciousness to care for oneself and each other and promote patient care.

Effects of a Mindfulness Activity on Nursing Service Staff Perceptions of Caring Behaviors in the Workplace.

Research on caring in nurse-to-nurse relationships is not extensive, but studies have shown that health care workers can experience incivility in the workplace and unhealthy relationships can increase stress and influence nurse retention. The current study examined nurse perceptions of caring in the workplace and the effect of a mindfulness activity. A mixed method design was used, and data were collected on 164 nursing staff members after a 1-minute mindfulness activity. Pre- and post-survey growth in caring behavior indicated a statistically significant positive effect for the treatment group. Qualitative reports showed that after completing a mindfulness activity, staff members were more focused, and willing to set a good example, off er help to others, and encourage a positive overall work environment. Mindfulness activities can improve nurse-to-nurse caring and reduce incivility in the workplace. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57(11), 28-36.].

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: The Ethic and Ethos of Holistic Nursing.

Holistic nursing is founded on the values of integrality and the awareness of whole-people and whole-system interconnectedness. These concepts are foundational to the broader global health agendas and initiatives of our time, which seek to improve human, animal, and planetary health. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development represents the most remarkable transnational initiative in history: a 15-year plan (2015-2030) rallying the efforts of all countries, governments, and concerned citizens worldwide to foster human-planet thriving and survival. The purpose herein is to substantiate the United Nations 2030 Agenda as a holistic nursing priority and theory-practice opportunity for current and future professional maturation. This article provides a background of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a discussion regarding their relevance to holistic nursing, and an explanation of the essential nature of partnerships in attaining each of these "Global Goals." We link the discussion of the SDGs directly to the American Holistic Nurses Association's Core Values and identify implications for practice, education, research, and policy. Holistic nursing is ideally situated throughout the health care system and in the broader global context to advocate and advance the SDGs.

Cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the Caring Efficacy scale in a sample of Italian nurses.

Caring is the essence of nursing practice. Caring Efficacy scale was developed with the purpose of measuring nurses' perceived self-efficacy in orienting and maintaining caring relationships with patients. Since any instruments measuring caring self-efficacy have not been developed in Italy, the study aimed at culturally adapting and validating Caring Efficacy scale in a sample of Italian nurses. A total of 300 registered nurses were asked to fill a self-reported questionnaire; translation-back-translation procedure was carried out to maintain semantic, idiomatic and conceptual equivalence of the original scale. Then, factor analysis was performed in order to test appropriateness of the factor structure. Convergent and discriminant validity was also tested. A two-factor structure with 17 items was found. Results show that Cronbach's Alpha value was 0.84 for Confidence to Care, and 0.75 for Doubts and Concerns. Correlation analysis for convergent and discriminant validity showed that Confidence to Care was positively correlated with sense of coherence and no significant correlation with Doubts and Concerns was found. Caring efficacy scale can be used by nurse managers as a way of assessing nurses' self-efficacy and their caring orientation, thus improving quality of patient care.

Caring for Children Who Are Technology-Dependent and Their Families: The Application of Watson's Caring Science to Guide Nursing Practice.

Advancements in the medical field have resulted in an increased number of children with complex chronic conditions that may depend on technology to sustain or optimize life. Given that nurses provide substantial physical and emotional care for these children and families during their frequent hospitalizations, the development of an authentic caring relationship is imperative. A critical review of the literature examining the experiences and unmet care needs of this population was carried out and analyzed using Watson's Caring Science to explore how nurses can create an authentic caring relationship and environment for children who are technology-dependent and their families.

Quantum Caring Leadership: Integrating Quantum Leadership With Caring Science.

The authors of this article integrate two historically parallel yet disparate fields of nursing, caring science theory and nursing quantum leadership science. Through a nursing, discipline-specific unitary paradigm lens, intersecting principles of caring science and quantum leadership science are uncovered. The result is a model for unitary, discipline-specific, nursing healthcare leadership: Quantum Caring Healthcare Leadership. Ontological congruence is uncovered among the philosophical-ethical-theoretical principles of caring science and the unifying disciplinary structural concepts from quantum leadership. The result is a model for discipline-specific, healthcare leadership. This convergence is potentially theory-generating for both unitary science and healthcare leadership. In this model, both quantum leadership and caring science are transformed and metamorphosed into a new unitary, discipline-specific entity to guide further advancement of knowledge, theory, and discipline-specific healthcare leadership and practice.

Social Justice and Human Caring: A Model of Caring Science as a Hopeful Paradigm for Moral Justice for Humanity.

The only true standard of greatness of any civilization is our sense of social and moral responsibility in translating material wealth to human values and achieving our full potential as a caring society. -The Right Honorable Norman Kirk, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Thoughts About Advancement of the Discipline: Dark Clouds and Bright Lights.

In this essay, several nurse scholars who are particularly concerned about the contemporary state of nursing science present their specific concerns (dark clouds) about the advancement of our discipline and the ways in which the concerns have been addressed (bright lights). This essay is the first of two essays that were catalyzed by Barrett's paper, "Again, What Is Nursing Science?" The second essay will be published in the next issue Nursing Science Quarterly.