THEORY OF

TRANSPERSONAL
CARING by JEAN
WATSON

A CASE STUDY PRESENTED IN GRADUATE

SCHOOL
COLLEGE OF NURSING
ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS IN
N212 ADVANCE ADULT NURSING IV
MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN NURSING

PREPARED BY: JORE LAJOT ROCO, BSNRN

JEAN WATSON

Earned a diploma from Lewis Gale Hospital

School of Nursing in Roanoke, VA
A baccalaureate in nursing degree from the
University of Colorado, Boulder
A masters degree in psychiatric mental
health nursing from the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center, including deanship of
the School of Nursing from 1983 to 1990
Founding Director of the Center for Human
Caring.

JEAN WATSON

Distinguished Professor at the

University of Colorado

President of the National League for

Nursing from 1995 to 1996

THEORY OF
TRANSPERSONAL CARING

Its essence is authentic caring for the purpose

of preserving the dignity and wholeness of
humanity
Theory emerged from the theorists own beliefs,
values and perceptions about human life, health
and healing.
Watson sees nursings collective caring-healing
role and its mission in society as attending to,
and helping to sustain, humanity and wellness
To caring and healing work with others during
their most vulnerable moments of lifes journey

THEORY OF TRNSPERSONAL
CARING

Caring is independent to caring

According to Watson, knowledge and
practice for a caring-healing discipline
are primarily derived from the arts and
humanities and an emerging human
science that acknowledges a
convergence of art and science.

PHILOSOPHICAL
BACKGROUND

Watsons work has reflected a blend of Eastern

and Western beliefs in what she refers to as
emergency/ converging paradigm
Influenced by Whiteland, Kierkegaard,
deChardin, Carl Rogers, Nightingale, Henderson
, Leininger, Martha Rogers and Gadow.
Watson expresses the hope that such a
relational ontology can heal not only individuals
but unhelathy health care, sociopolitical and
cultural institutions as well.

CONTENTS OF THE THEORY

Major Conceptual elements

Transpersonal caring relationship
Ten carative factors
Caring occasion/ caring moment

CONTENTS OF THE THEORY

The latent dimensions that are evolved and

emerged are:
Embodied spirit
Expanded views of self and person transpersonalmind, body and spirit oneness
Importance of caring-healing consciousness
within the human-environment field.
Positing of consciousness as energy
Phenomenal field/ unitary consciousness
Advanced caring-healing modalities/ nursing arts.

TRANSPERSONAL CARING RELATIONSHIP

Defined as human-to-human connectedness

occurring in a nurse-patient encounter wherein
each is touched by the human center of the
other.

Transpersonal caring relationship depends on:

The moral commitment, intentionality and

consciousness needed to protect, enhance,
promote
and
potentiate
human
dignity,
wholeness and healing wherein a person creates
or cocreates his or her own meaning for
existence, healing, wholeness and caring

TRANSPERSONAL CARING RELATIONSHIP

Orientation of the nurses intent, will and

consciousness toward affirming the subjective/
intersubjective significance of the person.
The nurses ability to assess and realize, accurately
detect and connect with the inner condition of another
The nurses ability to assess and realize anothers
condition of being-in-the-world and to feel a union
with the other
The caring-healing modalities potentiate harmony,
wholeness and comfort and promote inner healing
The nursess own life history and previous
experiences

TRANSPERSONAL CARING RELATIONSHIP

Recent elaboration on the concept of a

transpersonal caring relationship describes
this relationship occurring within a caring
consciousness wherein a nurse enters
into the life space or phenomenal field of
another person is able to detect the other
persons condition of being, feels this
condition within self and responds in such
a way that the person being cared for has
a release of feelings, thought and tension.

TEN CARATIVE FACTORS

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

6.

7.

Forming a humanistic-altruistic system of values.

Enabling and sustain faith-hope
Being sensitive to self and others
Developing a helping-trusting, caring relationship
(seeking transpersonal connections).
Promoting and accepting the expression of positive
and negative feelings
Engaging in creative, individualized, problem
solving caring processes.
Promoting transpersonal teaching-learning

TEN CARATIVE FACTORS

8. Attending to supportive, protective and/or
corrective mental, physical, societal and
spiritual environments.
9. Assisting with gratification of basic
human needs while preserving human
dignity and wholeness
10. Allowing for, and being open to,
existential-phenomenological and spiritual
dimensions of caring and healing that
cannot be fully explained scientifically
through modern Western medicine.

CARING OCCASION/ CARING

MOMENT
Occurs whenever nurse and other (s)
come together with their unique life
histories and phenomenal field in a
human-to-human transaction and is a
focal point in space and time has a greater
field of its own that is greater than the
occasion itself arises from aspects of itself
that become part of the life history of each
person, as well as part of some larger,
deeper, complex pattern of life

WATSONS THEORY AND

NURSINGS METAPARADIGM
PERSON
Human is viewed as a valued
person in and of him or
herself
Fully functional integrated
self that is greater than and
different from the sum of his
or her parts
Can go forward, through the
use of mind, to higher levels
of consciousness
Ones soul possesses a body
that is not confined by
objective space and time

WATSONS THEORY AND

NURSINGS METAPARADIGM
ILLNESS
Subjective turmoil or disharmony within
a persons inner self or soul at some
level or disharmony within the spheres
of the person
Illness connotes a felt incongruence
within the person such as an
incongruence between the self as
perceived and the self as experienced.

WATSONS THEORTY AND

NURSINGS METAPARADIGM
HEALTH
Is viewed holistically, as the unity
between the physical, social,
mental and spiritual self, with all
parts working together in harmony
and functioning to their full
capacity.
Is a perceived by the patient and is
influenced by their own unique life
experiences (Bernick/2004).
Entirely
includes a individuals
physical, social, aesthetic and
moral realms, not just their
behaviour
and
physiology
(George/2002).

WATSONS THEORY AND

NURSINGS METAPARADIGM
ENVIRONMENT
Is crucial to the holistic healing (mental,
physical, social, emotional, spiritual,
developmental, protective, supportive
environments), which is conducive to a
patients health and wellbeing.
Affects both patients and nurses within a
caring-healing model. (Bernick, 2004).
Is usually designed as a home-like
environment but these systems still fall
short as healing spaces (Watson/1999).
Contains noise, privacy, light, access to
nature, color, space and smells that can
have an impact on the caring-healing
process (Watson/1999).

WATSONS THEORY AND

NURSINGS METAPARADIGM
NURSING
Nursing consist of knowledge , thoughts, values,
philosophy, commitment and action with some degree
of passion. It is related to human care transactions
and intersubjective personal human contact with the
lived world of the experiencing person
Consist of transpersonal human-to-human attempts to
protect, enhance and preserve humanity by helping a
person find meaning in illness, suffering, pain and
existence
Help another to gain self-knowledge, control and selfhealing wherein a sense of inner harmony is restored
regardless of the external circumstances

MODEL

LIMITATIONS OF WATSONS
THEORY

Lack of emphasis on physical as a

separate entity on which to focus care
disturbs those still practicing from the
mechanistic medical model

STRENGHTS OF WATSONS
THEORY

Transformative at all levels and realms of

nursing
Directs the focus back onto the person
and mandates that technology be used
selectively for the betterment of
humankind rather than as the sole
guiding factor in health care.
Rekindle the passion of nursing for the
sacredness of being human and the
sacred traditions of health and healing

Everything happens for a reason to them who loves the

Lord

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

AND GODBLESS