Comfort care is presently taught through discussion, role
modeling, and care plans in a baccalaureate nursing course in
northeast Ohio. Sophomore students are taught how to assess
holistic comfort, along with other outcomes such as safety, activity,
and nutrition. Later, in a theory-based gerontology course, Junior
students learn the theory of comfort and how to apply it to elderly
patients. Students write one comfort care plan a week for 4 weeks;
the first is ungraded because the students are learning a new method
and they require instructor feedback about interactions between the
contexts of comfort, what interventions count as comfort measures,
how to identify intervening variables, and how to think about and
plan for health seeking behaviors with their patients. After their
practice care plan, and with appropriate feedback, students are “off
and running” with their own versions of this nursing art.
At the end of the course, students are told that, although the
Background. Comfort is a substantive need throughout life. However, the rise of technological influence coupled with a desire to embrace the medical concept of cure has frequently relegated the importance of nursing comfort interventions to simple tasks that can be provided by non-professional caregivers rather than an integral part of health promotion at all levels.
Definition. Comfort is a concept that has been explored by a number of authors. Various definitions have included comfort as an outcome of nursing, a function of nursing, a basic human need, and a process. No consensus on a definition of comfort was found in the literature.
Theory. This investigation attempts to link the ideas of comfort presented in the literature with the theories of Watson (Human Care) and Leininger (Culture Care), and discovers the existence of an integral locus for comfort in both.
Implications. Theory-based strategies for nursing education are offered. Further research is clearly required, research methodologies based on Watson and Leininger would be appropriate for additional exploration of this concept. Practice implications include reflecting on the meaning of comfort to the patient in the context of his/her cultural values, and using this one as one of the factors in planning and implementing nursing care.
Conclusion. Given the current emphasis on health promotion and the importance of comfort to the process of healing, comfort is an indispensable element of holistic, culturally congruent human care.