Questions Nurses Ask about the
Theory of Nursing as Caring
The following presents several common ques-
tions—and responses—that nurses ask about nurs-
ing as caring.
HOW DOES THE NURSE COME TO KNOW
SELF AND OTHER AS CARING PERSONS?
Nursing practice guided by the theory of nursing as
caring entails living the commitment to know self
and other as living caring in the moment and grow-
ing in caring. Living this commitment requires in-
tention, formal study, and reflection on experience.
Mayeroff ’s (1971) caring ingredients offer a useful
starting point for the nurse committed to knowing
self and other as caring persons. These ingredients
include knowing, alternating rhythm, honesty,
courage, trust, patience, humility, and hope.
Roach’s (1987/2002) five Cs—commitment, confi-
dence, conscience, competence, and compassion—
offer another conceptual framework that is helpful
in providing a language of caring. Coming to know
self as caring is facilitated by:
- Trusting in self; freeing self up to become what
one can truly become, and valuing self. - Learning to let go, to transcend—to let go of
problems, difficulties, in order to remember the
interconnectedness that enables us to know self
and other as living caring, even in suffering and
in seeking relief from suffering. - Being open and humble enough to experience
and know self, to be at home with one’s feelings. - Continuously calling to consciousness that each
person is living caring in the moment and that
we are each developing uniquely in our person-
hood. - Taking time to experience our humanness fully;
for one can only truly understand in another
what one can understand in self. - Finding hope in the moment. (Schoenhofer &
Boykin, 1993, pp. 85–86)
MUST I LIKE MY PATIENTS
TO NURSE THEM?
The simple answer to this question is yes. In order
to know the other as caring, the nurse must find
some basis for respectful human connection with
the person. Does this mean that the nurse must like
everything about the person, including personal life
choices? Perhaps not; however, the nurse as nurse is
not called upon to judge the other, only to care for
the other. A concern with judging or censuring an-
other’s actions is a distraction from the real pur-
pose for nursing—that is, coming to know the
other as caring person, as one with dreams and as-
pirations of growing in caring, and responding to
calls for caring in ways that nurture personhood.WHAT ABOUT NURSING A PERSON
FOR WHOM IT IS DIFFICULT TO CARE?
Related to the previous dilemma, this question
presents the crucible within which one’s commit-
ment to the assumptions and themes of nursing as
caring is tested to the limit. The underlying ques-
tion is, “Does the person to be nursed deserve or
merit my care?” Again, as before, the simple answer
is yes. All persons are caring, even when not all cho-
sen actions of the person live up to the ideal to
which we are all called by virtue of our humanness.
In discussions of hypothetical situations involving
child molesters, serial killers, and even political fig-
ures who have attempted mass destruction and
racial annihilation, certain ethical systems permit
and even call for making judgments. However,
when such a person presents to the nurse for care,
the nursing ethic of caring supersedes all other val-
ues. The theory of nursing as caring asserts that it is
onlythrough recognizing and responding to the
other as a caring person that nursing is created and
personhood enhanced in that nursing situation.
This question and the previous one make it clear
that caring is much more than “sweetness and
light”; caring effectively in “difficult to care” situa-
tions is the most challenging prospect a nurse can
face. It is only with sustained intentionality, com-
mitment, study, and reflection that the nurse is
able to offer nursing in these situations. Falling
short in one’s commitment does not necessitate
self-deprecation nor does it warrant condemnation
by others; rather, it presents an opportunity to care
for self and other and to grow in personhood.
Making real the potential of such an opportunity
calls for seeing with clarity, reaffirming commit-
ment, and engaging in study and reflection, indi-
vidually and in concert with caring others.342 SECTION III Nursing Theory in Nursing Practice, Education, Research, and Administration