Paterson and Zderad - Humanistic Nursing Theory

Josephine Paterson & Loretta Zderad


HUMANISTIC NURSING THEORY

I. NURSING THEORISTS

  The Humanistic Nursing Theory was created by Dr. Josephine Paterson and Dr. Loretta Zderad. Paterson was a public health major with a doctorate in nursing science while Zderad was a psychiatric nursing major with a doctorate in philosophy. The two met in the 1950s at Catholic University for a graduate program. They were tasked to create a new program that would combine psychiatric and community health elements. This program would eventually evolve into what is now known as the Theory of Humanistic Nursing or the Humanistic Nursing Theory (Scribd.com).

II. METAPARADIGM

Person
The Humanistic Nursing Theory’s main components are the patient and the nurse. The patient may be defined as a person, a family, a community, or humanity in general.

• Patient is perceived as an individual and each situation as unique.
• Human beings, as a being; holistic in nature, dynamic, aware and multidimensional, capable of abstract thought, creativity, and capable of taking responsibility.
• An open energy field which have a special life experiences.
• Humanistic nursing theory believed that patient can grow in a healthy and creative way.

Nursing
The nurse is defined as the person who the patient calls and receives help from. A nurse's goal is to help others with their unique healthcare needs (Scribd.com).

• The author believed that nursing education should be formed in experience and a nurse;s training should focus as much on the ability to relate to and interact with patient and scientific and medical backgrounds.
• Nursing is a responsible searching, transaction relationship whose meaningfulness demands conceptualization founded on a nurse's existential awareness of self and of the others.
• Nursing, as a human response, implies the valuing of some human potential beyond the narrow concept of health taken as absence of disease.

Health

Peterson and Zderad do not see health as the absence of disease or an attainable and goal. instead, they describe it as a resource that patient can use to help realize their own potential

• "Health" is valued as necessary for survival and is often proposed as goal for nursing.
• There are Instances of nursing that could be describe as "health restoring", "health sustaining", or "health promoting", Nurses engage in "health teaching" and "health supervision".

Environment

The environment is seen as the time and space where the events are happening and nursing experience take place. (Prezi, 2014) 

• Environment represents the place where the service is delivered, the community of world.
• Place is another component of space, but it is more personalized; it belongs to the patient or nurse and is highly subjective.

III. MODEL OF THE THEORY

Paterson and Zderad developed the theory in 1976 based off of the ideas of existentialism (a person is responsible for his own development through his own will) and phenomenology (the study of human consciousness and experiences) (Prezi). Humanistic Nursing Theory has 5 phases related to these concepts.

          The 1st phase is the preparation of the nurse for coming to know the other. Here, the nurse should recognize that he and the patient may have different viewpoints, but it is important to accept new ideas and to try and understand them.

          The 2nd phase is the nurse knowing the other intuitively. In this phase, the nurse and patient should talk to one another so that they can understand each other better and help the nursing process develop.

  The 3rd phase is the nurse knowing the other scientifically. This phase has the nurse looks over the information given to him and tries to recognize any similar patterns or themes in regards to what he already knows.

          The 4th phase is the nurse complimentarily synthesizing known others. Here, the nurse should see himself as a source of knowledge that continues to grow and develop the nursing community based on his own experiences.

  The 5th and final phase is the succession with the nurse from the many to the paradoxical one. This phase has the nurse reflect on all of the information given to him by the patient, make a plan that is inclusive of both parties’ experiences, and has the nurse and the patient come together as one (Scribd).

IV. GENERAL ASSUMPTIONS OF THE THEORY

  Humanistic Nursing Theory revolves around everyone being their own unique person and how the nurse should understand that. No person or experience is the same. This should be respected and reflected in the care provided to the patient (Prezi.com). Here, nursing care should be multidimensional and striving towards wholeness. While the patient and the nurse may have different concepts of wholeness (a.k.a. “gestalts”), it is also important to note the similarities and use them to provide proper nursing care (Scribd.com).

V. HOW THE THEORY HAS BEEN USED IN RESEARCH

  The Humanistic Nursing Theory has been applied in research regarding hospice and palliative care. The World Health Organization has stated the need for quality end-of-life care as a priority for global health care. Nurses specializing in such areas have goals that resonate with the ideals of Paterson and Zderad’s theory. After all, each patient should be seen as his own unique person when being provided with care. A nurse that embraces this idea will better understand how to help these patients towards their final goals in life (Wu and Volker, 2011).

  The theory has also been applied in regards to China’s Children Caring Ward School (CCWS), the pediatric department for Wuhon Union Hospital. The CCWS is the first humanistic nursing school among the hospital’s wards. This approach was taken to see the effects of the theory on a nurse’s caring ability, nurse-patient relationships, and patients’ satisfaction. Results have been revealed to be positive. After implementation, nurses were found to have significantly developed their caring ability in regards to cognition, courage, and patience towards their clients (He et al., 2016).

By:
          Jan, Montero

          Javier, Khyle Matthews M.

          Florence, Jaja


VI. REFERENCES

He, Jiao et al. (6 May 2016) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095771816300305

millstoneridge1 on Scribd (Date Unknown) https://www.scribd.com/doc/16070080/HUMANISTIC- NURSING-THEORY?webgl=0

Unknown on Prezi (13 December 2014) https://prezi.com/wluuzrylv3nz/humanistic-nursing-theory- josephine-paterson-and-loretta-zd/?webgl=0

Wu, HL and Volker, DL (20 July 2011) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21771046

Image & Metaparadigm from http://wiki-tfn.blogspot.com/p/humanistic-nursing-theory-paterson.html