A Phenomenological Interpretation of Holistic Nursing
- 1 June 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Holistic Nursing
- Vol. 15 (2) , 103-111
- https://doi.org/10.1177/089801019701500203
Abstract
Phenomenology contributes to holistic nursing by interpreting the first-person encounter with the lived world. Holistic nursing care integrates biopsychosociological knowledge with the practical care that is the legacy of generations of practicing nurses. A practice, when interpreted phenomenologically, is a historically developed way of fostering human well-being. Nursing is the practice of caring. Because nursing care concerns helping persons to live better in their world, it includes the moral, esthetic, and interpersonal aspects of care. These spiritual aspects are integrally enmeshed in holistic nursing. The spiritual in holistic nursing also designates the value dimension of meaning that gives life its worth and patients and nurses the courage to be. Interpreted phenomenologically, holistic nursing integrally relates scientific meaning with the meanings of nursing practice, the lived world of patients, and the meaning that gives patients and nurses the courage to seek well-being in a world altered by illness and debilitation.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Dialogues with Excellence: The Paper CraneThe American Journal of Nursing, 1989