untitled

Sweden, and many other countries; her research
methodology is used as a method of inquiry by
nurse scholars in Australia, Canada, Denmark,
Finland, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Sweden,
the United Kingdom, the United States, and other
countries on five continents.
Dr. Parse is a graduate of Duquesne University in
Pittsburgh, and she received her master’s and doc-
torate from the University of Pittsburgh. She was on
the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, was dean
of the Nursing School at Duquesne University, and
from 1983 to 1993 was professor and coordinator of
the Center for Nursing Research at Hunter College
of the City University of New York.

Introducing the Theory:

The Human Becoming

School of Thought

Presently, nurse leaders in research, administration,
education, and practice are focusing attention on
expanding the knowledge base of nursing through
enhancement of the discipline’s frameworks and
theories. Nursing is a discipline and a profession.
The goal of the disciplineis to expand knowledge
about human experiences through creative concep-
tualization and research. This knowledge is the

Knowledge of the discipline is the scientific

guide to living the art of nursing.

scientific guide to living the art of nursing. The
discipline-specific knowledge is given birth and
fostered in academic settings where research and ed-
ucation move the knowledge to new realms of un-
derstanding. The goal of the professionis to provide
service to humankind through living the art of the
science. Members of the nursing profession are re-
sponsible for regulating the standards of practice
and education based on disciplinary knowledge that
reflects safe health service to society in all settings.

THE DISCIPLINE OF NURSING

The discipline of nursing encompasses at least two
paradigmatic perspectives related to the human-
universe-health process. One view is of the human
as body-mind-spirit (totality paradigm) and the

other is of the human as unitary (simultaneity

paradigm) (Parse, 1987). The body-mind-spirit

perspective is particulate—focusing on the bio-

psycho-social-spiritual parts of the whole human

as the human interacts with and adapts to the envi-

ronment. Health is considered a state of biological,

psychological, social, and spiritual well-being. This

ontology leads to research and practice on phe-

nomena related to preventing disease and main-

taining and promoting health according to societal

norms. In contrast, the unitary perspective is a view

of the human-universe process as irreducible, un-

predictable, and ever-changing. Health is consid-

ered a process of changing value priorities. It is not

a static state but, rather, is ever-changing as the

human chooses ways of living. This ontology leads

to research and practice on patterns (Rogers, 1992),

lived experiences, and quality of life (Parse, 1981,

1992, 1997a, 1998a). Because the ontologies of

these paradigmatic perspectives lead to different re-

search and practice modalities, they lead to differ-

ent professional services to humankind.

THE PROFESSION OF NURSING

The profession of nursing consists of people edu-

cated according to nationally regulated, defined, and

monitored standards. The standards and regulations

are to preserve the safety of health care for members

of society. The nursing regulations and standards are

specified predominantly in medical/scientific terms.

This is according to tradition and is largely related to

nursing’s early subservience to medicine. Recently,

the nurse leaders in health-care systems and in regu-

lating organizations have been developing standards

(Mitchell, 1998) and regulations (Damgaard &

Bunkers, 1998) consistent with discipline-specific

knowledge as articulated in the theories and frame-

works of nursing. This is a very significant develop-

ment that will fortify the identity of nursing as a

discipline with its own body of knowledge—one

that specifies the service that society can expect from

members of the profession. With the rapidly chang-

ing health policies and the general dissatisfaction of

consumers with health-care delivery, clearly stated

expectations for services from each paradigm are a

welcome change.

Just as in other disciplines, the nursing educa-

tion and practice standards must be broad enough

to encompass the possibility of practice within each

188 SECTION III Nursing Theory in Nursing Practice, Education, Research, and Administration