ROSEMARIE RIZZO

PARSE
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse RN,
PhD, FAAN
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse is professor and Niehoff Chair at
Loyola University Chicago. She is founder and editor of
Nursing Science Quarterly, president of Discovery
International, Inc., which sponsors international nursing
theory conferences, and founder of the Institute of Human
Becoming, where she teaches the ontological, epistemological,
and methodological aspects of the human becoming school of
thought.
She began her work on the Human Becoming theory in the
1970s and was first published in 1981. The human becoming
theory was developed as a human science nursing theory The
assumptions underlining the theory were synthesized from
works by the European philosophers, Heidegger, Sartre, and
Merleau-Ponty, along with works by the pioneer American
nurse theorist, Martha Rogers.
Human Becoming Theory
Theory was based on Dr. Parse’s lived experience in
nrsg & its poor fit with the existing paradigms
The theory focuses on the human-universe-health
process and is based on the premise that the human
being pursues and creates his own process of being
with the world.
The uniqueness of the theory is its perspective on
paradoxes of human becoming. The theory
emphasizes the relationship between human &
environment with paradoxical rhythmical patterns
Human Becoming Theory
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse developed the Theory of
Human Becoming through a combination of
concepts from Martha Rogers and from
existential-phenomenological thought. Her nine
assumptions are based on the three main themes
of meaning, rhythmicity, and transcendence.
Each theme leads to a principle: meaning relates
to imagining, valuing, and languaging;
rhythmicity relates to revealing-concealing,
enabling-limiting, and connecting-separating;
transcendence relates to powering, originating,
and transforming.
Assumptions about the Human
& the Becoming
I. The human is coexisting while coconstituting
rhythmical patterns with the universe. – Individuals
take an active party in creating their own patterns and
reality.
II. The human is open, freely choosing meaning in
situation, bearing responsibility for decisions. – Human
beings make choices on how to act and react. They are
responsible for the outcome of these choices.
III. The human is unitary, continuously coconstituting
patterns of relating. – People are more than a sum of
their parts. One can be distighished from another by
patterns of appearance, mannerisms, voice and other
characteristics
 Assumptions – con`t
IV. The human is transcending multidimensionally
with the possibles – The human is capable of
changing and growing beyond their limitations.
V. Becoming is an open process, experienced by the
human. – Becoming is continous growth towards
more diversity & complexity. Growing includes
choosing who one will be in a given situation.
VI. Becoming is a rhythmically coconstituting human-
universe process – Health & becoming are
intertwined. The elements of our environment in
which we connect and separate from, change us.
With these elements we coconsitute our health.
 Assumptions – con`t
VII.Becoming is the human’s patterns of relating value
priorities. – Health is living the ideals chosen by
the individual.
VIII.Becoming is an intersubjective process of
transcending with the possibles – Health is
reaching beyond the actual to the possible through
subject to subject interchange. This interchange can
occur through two persons or with another
element of the environment
IX. Becoming is human unfolding – We are
continuously changing, never to return to our
previous state.
 Principals
1 – STRUCTURING MEANING
MULTIDIMENSIONALLY IS COCREATING
REALITY THROUGH THE LANGUAGING
OF VALUING & IMAGING
Many universes exist for a person at any time.
Reality is the harmony between these universes
reached through a person’s choice. Personal
reality includes all that a person is and will
become. Constructing reality is giving meaning
to unique experience. Structuring meaning is
done through imaging, valuing and languaging
 Corresponding Concepts
Imaging – An infertile couple believes there are
many children in need of loving homes and plan
to adopt
Valuing – An older woman begins to exercise
and watch her diet as she is concerned about her
health.
Languaging – A man diagnosed with terminal
cancer finds the words and the strength to talk
to his family about it
.
 Principals
2 – COCREATING RHYTHMICAL PATTERNS OF
RELATING IS LIVING THE PARADOXICAL
UNITY OF REVEALING-CONCEALING &
ENABLING-LIMITING WHILE CONNECTING-
SEPARATING.
The human & the universe, including the people in
one’s life are cocreating a rhythmical pattern of
energies. As people grow they form and
simultaneously break bonds with different
elements. Other persons and element in the
universe are moving towards & away from each
other, revealing aspects of themselves while
concealing others in their continuous
interrelationship.
Corresponding Concepts
Revealing-Concealing – A pregnant youth must
reveal her secret to her parents
Enabling-Limiting – A patient chooses to refuse
a treatment
Connecting-Separating – Parents want more
aggressive treatment for their palliative care
daughter; her husband disagrees straining the
relationship.
 Principal
3 – COTRANSCENDING WITH THE POSSIBLES
IS POWERING UNIQUE WAYS OF
ORIGINATING IN THE PROCESS OF
TRANSFORMING
Going beyond the actual in interrelationship with
others. Another person may help you grow
beyond perceived limits even though the person
must do the moving their self. The energy for
moving on is called powering.
Corresponding Concepts
Powering – Parents learn to be strong and move
on with life after losing their youngest child in
an accident.
Originating – A woman raises money for breast
cancer research to honour her grandmother
Transforming – An elderly man finally accepts
outside help as he is no longer able to care for
his wife
 What Does It All Mean?
People are multifaceted, decisive, autonomous
beings capable of adapting and responsible for
creating their own relationships, circumstances
and health
Parse’s goal in nursing is to guide clients back to
their quality of life. A nurse needs to accept the
quality of life as the patient sees it regardless of
the nurse’s assessment of the patient’s quality of
life
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