Nursing Is the Light in Institutional Darkness: A Dialogue With Dr. Jean Watson

The year 2022 is Nursing Science Quarterly’s 35th year in publication, and we are interested in dialoging with some of the discipline’s nurse theorists. We hope to uncover some influences and origins of their theoretical thinking and hear about their current projects related to nursing science. In this Scholarly Dialogue column, we dialogue with Dr. Jean Watson, nurse theorist, director of the Watson Caring Science Institute, and Distinguished Professor/Dean Emerita of University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing.

A Complex Systems Account of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Illustrations from India

The Covid-19 pandemic in India and the rest of the world was followed by tremendous health and social consequences. Worldwide the pandemic created challenges that were unpredictable and elusive to our existing ways of thinking. The paper posits that a complex systems thinking is needed to make sense of the society-wide ramifications of a ‘wicked’ problem like the pandemic and devise appropriate resolutions. A complex systems thinking conceptualizes our society as emergent from irreducible interdependencies across individuals, communities and systems and the pandemic as a complex systems problem that has consequences both immediate and future. The paper uses the complexity lens to explore the unanticipated repercussions of the pandemic control measures that further accentuated pandemic induced socio-economic disruptions, and secondly, the domain of Covid-19 treatment in India, as examples, to demonstrate that while devising a response to complex phenomena like the pandemic more needs to be accounted for than what meets the eye. It thus calls for a more caring science that understands and respects our shared existence and wellbeing and makes use of diverse, democratic and decentralised processes to forge shared pathways for navigating our complex world.

Unitary Caring Science

The author in this article provides the introduction to the review of A Handbook for Caring Science: Expanding the Paradigm, edited by Rosa et al. (2019), contemplating Unitary Caring Science from a unitary transformative worldview.

Book Review: A Handbook for Caring Science: Expanding the Paradigm, by Rosa, W., Horton-Deutsch, S., & Watson, J. (Eds.). Springer.

This is a review of the book A Handbook for Caring Science: Expanding the Paradigm. Leading scholars in the field of Caring Science contribute to this important work covering a range of topics. The book is divided into 10 sections, each of which is focused on areas of Caring Science including practice, research, education, and leadership. Importantly, this work considers an international perspective. A focus on nurses’ self- care is also emphasized. Grounding this work is a discussion of the philosophical, ontological, metaphysical, cosmological, and ethical ideas of Unitary Caring Science. This book is a must read for students, nurses in practice, nurse researchers, and academics who are interested in Caring Science.

Revisiting ‘Discipline’ in Relation to Caring Science as Sacred Science: Revisiting Discipline of Nursing

The purpose of this manuscript is to invite a revisiting of the concept of the “discipline” of Nursing, with attention to the spiritual consciousness of “Nurse” within the sacred concept of self-caring and caring-healing consciousness. The notion of including the spiritual, evolving consciousness of “Nurse,” in harmony with evolution of Professional Nursing, is congruent with a mature disciplinary matrix of caring science as sacred science. This congruence between Nurse/Nursing contributes to the evolution of Nursing, Holistic Practices and Era III unitary transformative disciplinary thinking.

Supporting Students' Understanding of Caring Science as a Meaningful Basis for Practice

Caring science has been described as abstract, difficult to apply, or unscientific common sense. An alternative view is that caring science knowledge does not pose a greater challenge because it is abstract, but because it challenges caregivers' existence. No matter how nursing faculty perceive these challenges, it is crucial to create a context where students are supported in the integration of theoretical knowledge. This article addresses teachers' responsibility for creating a caring learning environment. It further proposes how reflections on perspectives and concepts can be linked to experiential learning to contribute to students' embodied understanding of caring science.

Midwifery students' experiences of support for ethical competence

Background: Midwifery students are confronted with several ethical dilemmas and challenging situations during clinical midwifery care practice. Since ethical competence of midwifery students is under development, it is important to support the students’ learning progress of ethical issues from diverse viewpoints. Objective: From the perspective of didactics of caring science and the context of midwifery students, to explore how midwifery students’ experience supports for ethical competence in midwifery education and investigate how ethically challenging situations have been carried out during clinical midwifery care practice. Design: Qualitative, explorative and descriptive design with inductive nature. Methods: Focus group interviews with nine Swedish midwifery students. Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics was applied to guide the interpretation. Ethical considerations: Ethical principles and scientific guidelines were followed. Informed consent was obtained from the participants. Confidentiality was respected and quotations anonymised. Results: Receiving support when ethically challenging situations occur in clinical midwifery practice is important and necessary. One main theme, such as support is a human and caring factor in the midwifery students’ Bildung process on ethical competence, and four subthemes, such as supporting through trust and responsibility; supporting through dignity and respect; supporting through truthfulness and justice; and supporting through dialogue and reflection, were created from the hermeneutical interpretation. Discussion: Teaching ethics should be carefully planned, consistent and continue throughout the midwifery education. There is dispersion in the pedagogy of ethical situations, the methods and perceptions associated with it, and in obtaining possible support for students. Developing well-experienced methods could benefit the support of midwifery students’ ethical competence when they experience ethically challenging situations in midwifery care practice.