nurse-person process—requires the creation of
spaces where nurses’ choices to move with a new
paradigm of nursing practice are honored, spaces
where persons’ individual meanings and choices
are profoundly valued, and spaces where resources
are dedicated to cocreating quality of life from each
person’s own perspective. In this section of the
chapter, we present two detailed examples of prac-
tice guided by the Human Becoming Theory, illus-
trating a parish nursing model and a community
action model.
Human Becoming as a Guide
for Parish Nursing
A Human Becoming parish nursing practice model
was developed at the First Presbyterian Church in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Bunkers & Putnam,
1995). The central focus of this nursing theory–
based health model is quality of life for the parish
community (see Fig. 14–1). The nurse-community
health process emphasizes lived experiences of
health of individual parishioners and of the entire
parish community. The eight beatitudes, being fun-
damental to the parish’s belief system, are paral-
leled with concepts of the Human Becoming
Theory to guide nursing practice in the parish. For
example, true presence is paralleled with the beati-
tude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be filled,” which ex-
presses the desire for a deep, loving relationship
with people and with God (Ward, 1972). True pres-
ence, the cornerstone of human becoming nursing
practice, is lived with the parish community in a
loving, reflective way, bearing witness to others’ liv-
ing health and honoring each person’s uniqueness
without judging him or her. The nurse, in true
presence, respects people as knowing their own
way, a chosen personal way of being with the world.
A further example of paralleling the beatitudes
with the Human Becoming Theory is the beatitude,
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God,” which describes a singleness of purpose for
living an ethic of love and care for others (Ward,
1972). This ethic of love and care honors human
freedom. The Parse nurse understands that humans
are inherently free, and the nurse in parish nursing
practice honors this freedom. “The nurse honors
how others choose to create their world and seeks
to know and understand the wholeness of their
lived experiences of faith and health” (Bunkers,
1998b; Bunkers, Nelson, Leuning et al., 1999, p. 92).
Living Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming with
parishioners holds the possibility of transforming
community nursing practice and transforming
ways of living health. Bunkers and Putnam (1995)
state, “The nurse, in practicing from the human be-
coming perspective and emphasizing the teachings
of the Beatitudes, believes in the endless possibili-
ties present for persons when there is openness,
caring, and honoring of justice and human free-
dom” (p. 210).Human Becoming as a Guide
for Nursing Education-Practice
The Health Action Model for Partnership in
Community is a nursing education-practice model
originating in the Department of Nursing at
Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
which addresses “the connections and disconnec-
tions existing in human relationship” (Bunkers,
Nelson, Leuning et al., 1999, p. 92) (see Fig. 14–2).
This collaborative community nursing practice
model focuses on lived experiences of connection-
disconnection “for persons homeless and low in-
come who are challenged with the lack of
economic, social and interpersonal resources”
(Bunkers, Nelson, Leuning et al., 1999, p. 92). TheThe Health Action Model, based on the
human becoming school of thought,
focuses on the primacy of the nurse’s
presence with others.Health Action Model, based on the human becom-
ing school of thought, focuses on the primacy of
the nurse’s presence with others. The focus of the
nurse-community health process is quality of life
from the community’s perspective. Quality of life,
the central concept of the model, is elaborated on
in the conceptualizations of health as human
becoming, community interconnectedness, and“The purpose of the model is to respond
in a new way to nursing’s social mandate
to care for the health of society by gaining
an understanding of what is wanted from
those living these health experiences.”196 SECTION III Nursing Theory in Nursing Practice, Education, Research, and Administration