What are the components of Dr. Watson's Caring Theory?

• Carative Factors (Spiritual, emotional, and human care-giving factors that are added to, and meshed with, clinical care factors).
• A transpersonal Caring Relationship (The nurse and patient mutually search for meaning and wholeness.)
• Caring Moments (Uninterrupted time spent with a patient to make a human-to-human connection.)

Caring moments also extend to uninterrupted time spent with family members. Of course, there are many more caring moments that you will learn about in your Magnet training. Dr. Watson believes that these caring moments transform both the patient and the nurse.

What are some examples of “carative factors”?

• Showing kindness, concern and love of self and others.
• Enabling and sustaining faith and hope.
• Showing sensitivity to others and to you. (Understand and be sensitive to your own feelings.) 
• Using interpersonal communication skills to create trusting, helping, and caring relationships.
• Accepting the emotions and feelings of others, and encouraging others to share those emotions and feelings. 
  Promoting teaching and learning based on an assessment of the patient’s
  perception and feelings.
• Creating an environment that is supportive, protective, and advances physical, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being. 
• Attending to the basic human needs of the patient.
• Attending to the existential and spiritual needs of the patient.

What are some examples of “caring moments” or "moments of truth"?

• Entering the patient’s room. 
• Shaking the patient’s hand.
• Making eye contact with the patient. 
• Explaining a procedure. 
• Making the patient’s environment more comfortable.

What is the role of the nurse in Dr. Jean Watson’s Caring Theory?

• Establish a caring relationship with patients. 
• Show unconditional acceptance. 
• Use a holistic treatment approach—one that includes treating the mind, soul, and spirit as well as the body). 
• Spend uninterrupted time with patients – something Watson calls “caring moments.” 
• Promote health through knowledge and intervention

Both Watson’s Caring Theory and AHH’s “Veritas Caritas” Nursing Theory view nursing as a science and an art. Under these theories, caring is the essence of nursing. A large part of the caring model involves helping the patient find meaning in illness and suffering to restore or promote the patient’s harmony. Just as in any human drama, all of the characters in a patient’s story interact with each other, impact each other, and change each other. The goal at AHH is to make those changes transformational and meaningful for both the patient and the care giver.