Watson’s theory and the four major concepts
1. Human being
Human being refers to “….. a valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, respected, nurtured, understood and assisted; in general a philosophical view of a person as a fully functional integrated self. He, human is viewed as greater than and different from, the sum of his or her parts”.
2. Health
Watson adds the following three elements to WHO definition of health:
A high level of overall physical, mental and social functioning
A general adaptive-maintenance level of daily functioning
The absence of illness (or the presence of efforts that leads its absence)
3. Environment/society
According to Watson, caring (and nursing) has existed in every society.
A caring attitude is not transmitted from generation to generation.
It is transmitted by the culture of the profession as a unique way of coping with its environment.
4. Nursing
“Nursing is concerned with promoting health, preventing illness, caring for the sick and restoring health”.
It focuses on health promotion and treatment of disease. She believes that holistic health care is central to the practice of caring in nursing.
She defines nursing as…..
“a human science of persons and human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional, personal, scientific, esthetic and ethical human transactions”.