Nurses are healthcare professionals who spend the majority of their time interacting with patients and providing them with support and the assistance which they require. As a result, all of the nurses’ interactions with clients are shaped by their personal worldview, which directly impacts their practice (Sitzman & Watson, 2018). My personal worldview rests on the Christian faith and Bible teachings which enable me to provide compassionate services, while my preferred nursing theory is Watson’s approach which promotes human caring science.
The core of my personal worldview is the Christian belief which is both a religious and spiritual element influencing my personal philosophy of patient care and practice. My approach to clients’ health and well-being is, first of all, dictated by the basic teachings of Christianity. One of such teachings is the Imago Dei doctrine which implies that every person possesses their intrinsic value because they bear God’s image (Newbanks et al., 2017). The doctrine provides me with a perception of human personality as one which is similar to God’s and thus enables me to deliver compassion and care to those in need. Moreover, as a Christian, I always strive to align all of my actions in accordance with my faith which also concerns my professional obligations and responsibilities. When I care for my patients, I experience gratitude to God for giving me an opportunity to help others, especially when they are in need. Essentially, since my worldview is shaped by Christianity, I consider nursing not merely my job but my calling, which lets me care for people who have problems and need my assistance.
At the same time, in addition to religious and spiritual elements, my practice is shaped by cultural aspects such as humanism and altruism. My family has always taught me to support people in need through various means, including by giving to charity and caring for stray animals. The values of humanism and altruism were the main ones promoted by my parents, for instance, during my childhood, we had a tradition of volunteering to provide food to homeless people. In literature, humanism enables nurses to facilitate patients’ self-development and promote their well-being (McCaffrey, 2019). As for altruism, it is considered one of the key principles which every professional nurse must espouse since it constitutes the ability of being concerned about the welfare of others (Slettmyr et al., 2017). Essentially, humanism and altruism are an integral part of my culture which I implement in my practice and approach to patients. Since Christianity also relies on similar ideas, I have managed to formulate a holistic worldview which seamlessly integrates religious, spiritual, and cultural elements.
Although there are many worthy nursing theories, Watson’s Human Caring Science theory is the one which is most consistent with my personal worldview. According to Watson’s perspective, nursing constitutes a practice which focuses on health restoration and promotion, illness prevention, and caring for those who are sick (Younas & Quennell, 2019). Caring is the core idea of nursing practice which implies that professionals must not only deliver medical cures but also promote health for their clients. Watson argues that caring must be applied holistically and must be practiced interpersonally. Watson proposes several carative factors which nurses need to address to satisfy all of the needs of patients, from physical to spiritual ones. Watson’s approach is consistent with my Christian worldview, which relies on altruism and humanism. For instance, the carative factors described by Watson correspond to the Bible teaching, such as seeing the spirit-filled person in every patient, being sensitive to others, and assisting with human needs (Schaffer et al., 2017). Moreover, Watson recognizes the fact that the transpersonal relationship between the nurse and patient can only be based on altruism and humanism, which become crucial for caring.
Watson’s theory guides many of my actions and helps me to make the correct decisions which in turn positively affect the well-being of my patients. The ten carative factors outlined by Watson considerably facilitate the nursing process for me because they enable me to coordinate my services. When approaching a new patient, I always ensure to ask them about all of their current needs in accordance with the carative factors. For instance, one of the essential factors is the provision of a supportive environment, and, to do it, it is vital to give the patient a chance to have their family around. Therefore, I always make sure to facilitate the communication between the patient and their relatives and provide them with privacy. At the same time, Watson’s theory helped me to solve many issues which arose with my patients on numerous occasions. For example, there was a patient I cared for who did not have any family members. By utilizing the carative factor of instilling faith and hope and using my Christian knowledge, I assisted the patient with their needs by praying together with them, which helped them.
As mentioned above, my Christian faith and the reliance on altruism enable me to consider nursing as my true calling. As a result, my worldview considerably helps me to continuously develop my practice in the future. Christianity teaches me to be committed to improving my expertise and expanding my knowledge about the best practices currently available to nurses (O’Brien, 2021). For instance, I particularly value the use of technology to enhance nursing services because I consider all of the advances in the field of technology as gifts from God. Therefore, I always strive to research new methods of providing services to become more competent and helpful. Additionally, Christianity teaches people to recognize their mistakes, and it is especially important in healthcare where professionals, including me, may make certain errors. Moreover, the principles of altruism and humanism motivate me to continue working on improving my skills, trying to achieve new professional goals, and encourage my colleagues to pursue continuous education.
Watson’s theory is another element which contributes to my worldview and thus enables me to strive to improve my practice further in the future. Watson promotes the idea of holistic nursing, which is inherently related to the need to increase professional knowledge and expertise to contribute to the physical and spiritual health of clients (Riegel et al., 2018). Watson postulates that to be able to perform a caring action successfully, nurses must possess scientific skills, which can be attained through education. Watson stresses the importance of the acquisition and advancement of caring practice throughout nurses’ professional lives. In order to achieve progress in caring, nurses must be familiar with the advances in knowledge and technology. Therefore, Watson’s theory motivates me to continuously re-examine my knowledge and skills about care in practice. As a result, Watson’s ideas serve as both an inspiration and motivation for me to continue progressing as a professional to improve my practice with a goal to provide better quality services to my patients.
My Christian worldview, which integrates the principles of altruism and humanism, as well as Watson’s Human Caring Science, constitutes the foundation of my practice. Christianity enables me to see every person as being valuable and made in the image of God, and therefore when I provide them with care, I exhibit my gratitude to God. My family has been consistently encouraging me to uphold the principles of altruism and humanism, which now constitute the core elements of my worldview. Watson’s Human Caring Science theory helps me to recognize that caring is the most vital part of nursing and thus provides me with a framework on how I must act when interacting with patients.
References
McCaffrey, G. (2019). A humanism for nursing? Nursing Inquiry, 26(2), 1–7.
Newbanks, R. S., Rieg, L. S., & Schaefer, B. (2017). What is caring in nursing? Sorting out humanistic and Christian perspectives. Journal of Christian Nursing, 35(3), 160–167.
O’Brien, M. (2021). Spirituality in nursing: Standing on holy ground (7th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Riegel, F., Crossetti, M. da G. O., & Siqueira, D. S. (2018). Contributions of Jean Watson’s theory to holistic critical thinking of nurses. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 71(4), 2072–2076.
Schaffer, M. A., Sandau, K., & Missal, B. (2017). Demystifying nursing theory. Journal of Christian Nursing, 34(2), 102–107.
Sitzman, K., & Watson, J. (2018). Caring science, mindful practice: Implementing Watson’s human caring theory (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Slettmyr, A., Schandl, A., & Arman, M. (2017). The ambiguity of altruism in nursing: A qualitative study. Nursing Ethics, 26(2), 368–377.
Younas, A., & Quennell, S. (2019). Usefulness of nursing theory-guided practice: An integrative review. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(3), 540–555.
Appendix A
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