Rogers model of the science of unitary man

Brief background of Martha E.Rogers

Martha Elizabeth Rogers (May 12, 1914 – March 13, 1994) was an American nurse, she was born in Dallas, Texas the oldest of four children

Martha E. Rogers, one of nursing’s foremost scientists

she completed her BS in public health nursing at George Peabody College 1937.

She earning both a master’s of public health and a doctor of science degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

After graduation from Johns Hopkins, Rogers was appointed head of the Division of Nursing at New York University

Socio Political context during the time the theory was formulated

Martha Rogers' development of the Science of Unitary Human Beings has become an influential nursing theory in the United States.

When first introduced it was considered radical, and difficult to understand, also it considered profound and was too ambitious but now is simply thought to be ahead of its time.

This conceptual framework has greatly influenced all facets of nursing by offering an alternative to traditional approaches of nursing.

THEORY DESCRIPTION

(1.1.1) Theory assumptions

The assumptions of Rogers’ Theory of Unitary Human Beings are as follows:

(1) Man is a unified whole possessing his own integrity and manifesting characteristics that are more than and different from the sum of his parts.

(2) Man and environment are continuously exchanging matter and energy with one another.

(3) The life process evolves irreversibly and unidirectionally along the space-time continuum.

(4) Pattern and organization identify the man and reflect his innovative wholeness. And lastly,

(5) Man is characterized by the capacity for abstraction and imagery, language and thought sensation and emotion.

(1.1) Structural Components

(1.1) Structural Component (continued)

(1.1.2) Concepts

The following are the major concepts and metaparadigm of Martha Rogers’ nursing theory:

A- Human-unitary human beings

A person is defined as an indivisible, pan-dimensional energy field identified by a pattern, and manifesting characteristics specific to the whole, and that can’t be predicted from knowledge of the parts. A person is also a unified whole, having its own distinct characteristics that can’t be viewed by looking at, describing, or summarizing the parts.

(1.1) Structural Component (continued)

(1.1.2) Concepts

B-Health

Rogers defines health as an expression of the life process.

It is the characteristics and behavior coming from the mutual, simultaneous interaction of the human and environmental fields, and health and illness are part of the same continuum.

The multiple events occurring during the life process show the extent to which a person is achieving his or her maximum health potential.

The events vary in their expressions from greatest health to those conditions that are incompatible with the maintaining life process.

(1.1) Structural Component (continued)

(1.1.2) Concepts

C-Nursing

It is the study of unitary, irreducible, indivisible human and environmental fields: people and their world. Rogers claims that nursing exists to serve people, and the safe practice of nursing depends on the nature and amount of scientific nursing knowledge the nurse brings to his or her practice

(1.1) Structural Component (continued)

(1.1.2) Concepts

D-Scope of Nursing

Nursing aims to assist people in achieving their maximum health potential. Maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of disease, nursing diagnosis, intervention, and rehabilitation encompass the scope of nursing’s goals.

Nursing is concerned with people-all people-well and sick, rich and poor, young and old. The arenas of nursing’s services extend into all areas where there are people: at home, at school, at work, at play; in hospital, nursing home, and clinic; on this planet and now moving into outer space.

(1.1) Structural Component (continued)

(1.1.2) Concepts

E- Environmental Field

“An irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field identified by pattern and integral with the human field.”

F- Energy Field

The energy field is the fundamental unit of both the living and the non-living. It provides a way to view people and the environment as irreducible wholes. The energy fields continuously vary in intensity, density, and extent.

(1.1) Structural Component (continued)

(1.1.3) Propositions

Unitary human beings/environments are dynamic fields of energy.

A positive human/environment energy field decreases anxiety and tension in patients.

A nurse who identifies patterns of human/environment energy fields will provide individualized care.

(1.2) Functional Components

A- Focus

The theory views nursing as both a science and an art as it provides a way to view the unitary human being, who is integral with the universe.

The unitary human being and his or her environment are one.

Nursing focuses on people and the manifestations that emerge from the mutual human-environmental field process

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

B- Client

Rogers gave much emphasis on how a nurse should view the patient, she developed principles which emphasize that a nurse should view the client as a whole.

Her statements, in general, made us believe that a person and his or her environment are integral to each other.

That is, a patient can’t be separated from his or her environment when addressing health and treatment.

Her conceptual framework has greatly influenced all aspects of nursing by offering an alternative to traditional approaches of nursing

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

C- Nursing

Rogers’ theory defined Nursing as “an art and science that is humanistic and humanitarian ,It is directed toward the unitary human and is concerned with the nature and direction of human development.

The theory views nursing as both a science and an art as it provides a way to view the unitary human being, who is integral with the universe. The unitary human being and his or her environment are one.

Nursing focuses on people and the manifestations that emerge from the mutual human-environmental field process.

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

D- Health

The UFPP research method can also be used to create a unitary conceptualization and understanding of an unlimited number of human experiences relevant to understanding health and well-being within a unitary perspective. New concepts that describe unitary phenomena may also be developed through research using this method.

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

E- Nurse-patient interactions

The mind plays a role in Rogers’s nursing model, and it seems to be part of what she sees as being the driving force to do good work in the field.

Every nurse must reconcile within themselves why they do their work and why it is important to continue.

Rogers’s offers that humans are more complex than the parts nurses interact with when endeavoring to cure or mend them.

Therefore, nurses’ efforts are amplified when they endeavor to help save a life since that life is more valuable than the body that the nurse helped save. In this way, a nurse can find strong motivation to do this work to the best degree possible.

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

F- Environment

The belief of the coexistence of the human and the environment has greatly influenced the process of change toward better health.

In short, a patient can’t be separated from his or her environment when addressing health and treatment.

This view lead this theory which allowed nursing to be considered one of the scientific disciplines.

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

G- Nursing problems

Rogers’s model is useful for addressing the issue of nursing burnout. Nursing staff burnout is one of the main obstacles to effectively maintaining a culture of safety, which is a set of “shared values, beliefs, norms, and procedures related to patient safety among members of an organization.

The more stressed and tires a nurse becomes, the more likely mistakes are. Burnout is condition that occurs when stress becomes so bad that it creates a kind of malaise.

Rogers’s approach to nursing frames the work in a new light.

While many nurses have strong motivating factors when entering the field, seeing the results of what they do as being greater than the sum of their parts and having a rippling effect out in the environment can help them remained focused even during mental fatigue. Furthermore, applying Rogers’s theory to nurses themselves can help management see the need to allow nurses to rest.

(1.2) Functional Components (continued)

H- Nursing Therapeutics

Rogers also proposes noninvasive modalities for nursing, such as therapeutic touch, humor, music, meditation and guided imagery, and even the use of color. The interventions of nurses are meant to coordinate the rhythm between the human and environmental fields, help the patient in the process of change, and to help patients move toward better health. The practice of nursing, according to Rogers, should be focused on pain management, and supportive psychotherapy for rehabilitation.

THEORY CRITIQUE

- Science of Unitary Human Beings: An Update on Research Tae Sook Kim, RN; PhD First Published October 1, 200

Abstract

The purpose of this column is to review the published studies conducted within Rogers' science of unitary human beings from 2004 to 2007. The findings from a critical review of 24 research studies (15 quantitative and 9 qualitative) are presented.

MY VIEWPOINT

I agree with pervious critique

A theory seems to complex, and the concepts seems to quite difficult to understand

But efforts are underway to facilitate and simplify the theory for understanding

REFERENCES

Nursing_theories_and_nursing_practice 2015 p237-260

Theoretical Nursing Development and Progress 2012 p311

Tae Sook Kim; National Library of Medicine.Nursing science quarterly Vol. 21, Iss. 4, (October 2008): 294-299

Rogers, M. E. (1989). An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis