Nursing, the Concept

This work provides the precise analysis of one of the nursing practice concepts under the name “caring”. At the current moment, there is no single definition of this notion. Thus, the current work will provide numerous definitions that incorporate distinct characteristics of this concept. Much attention will be devoted to the depiction of the major attributes of nursing, which the great variety of resources notes. Its comprehensive character creates the background for the wide application of this term in different disciplines. This work will provide these spheres of usage below. Moreover, the same characteristic enables empiric measurement by using several scales. This essay will depict four of those scales. All of them have the aim to assess various aspects of caring. The scrupulous analysis of caring and depicting its features are essential for a deeper understanding of this concept.

Analysis of the Concept

Nowadays, caring is considered to be one of the core concepts of nursing practices. This notion depicts the relationships between health care providers and their patients that are intent on improving the psychological and physical conditions of the latter. There is no distinct and generally accepted interpretation of this concept. Various researchers provide their definitions by making the emphasis on some particular characteristics. Moreover, a unified understanding of the major attributes of caring is also absent. These discrepancies have the basis of the comprehensive character of the chosen concept and the ability to view it from various perspectives. However, all the definitions and explanations of caring serve as supplements to each other for providing a more profound understanding of nursing practice.

Purpose of the Concept

The major purpose of the described concept is to provide the patient with assistance, physical and psychological support, with the aim of improving his physical and mental health (Sourial, 1997).

Uses of the Concept

The described notion finds application in such fields as instrumental and affective ethics, humanism, and traits of patients (Sourial, 1997). Additionally, it should be noted that patients and nurses have quite different perceptions of caring. Nurses use the term of caring to depict practices directed on that support and the protection of patients' interests, while patients themselves apply “caring” to explain the physical and psychological support (Drahosova & Jarosova, 2016).

Definitions

In the modern world, caring has numerous definitions. This concept sometimes means “a feeling and exhibiting concern and empathy to others; showing or having compassion” (Lanchman, 2012, p. 112). Madeleine M. Leininger (1988) defined caring as the combination of “assistive, supportive, or facilitative acts” to another person or a group of persons who have evident needs with the aim to improve living conditions and the mode of life (Leininger, 1988, p. 9). This concept can mean the sequence of various attributes like vigilance, competence, and professional interaction with patients (Smith, Turkel, & Wolf, 2015). Moreover, the notion of caring sometimes implies the expression of the conjunction of different human behaviors and skills like administrative, cognitive, psychomotor, and affective ones (Wilkin, 2003).

In her nursing work, Jean Watson noted that the concept of caring contains such components as Caritas factors, the caring occasion/moment, and the transpersonal elements (Lanchman, 2012). The first factor embodies the honor of people, their lives, and their experiences. The second element represents the combination of the location and time of actual caring, while the third one is the health care provider's moral commitment (Lanchman, 2012).

Attributes

Different researchers have defined various attributes of the described concept. Gail A. Brilowski (2005) noted that the major facets of the nursing concept are the following: variability, relationship, acceptance, action, and attitude. Madeleine M. Leininger (1988) emphasized on continuance of relationships, the absence of isolation, development and personal realization. Marlaine C. Smith, Marina C. Turkel, & Zane Robinson Wolf (2013) focused their work on the depiction of such peculiarities as comportment of health care providers, compassion, confidence, vigilance, competence, expert nursing practice, and therapeutic interactions with patients and their families. In this study, the compartment signifies the personal feeling of harmony.

Disciplines

Nowadays, caring is widely applied in numerous disciplines, including nursing, community medicine, dental hygiene, leisure studies, family, social work, diabetics, occupation, and physical therapy (Leininger, 1988).

Measurement

At the current moment, the measurement of caring utilizes special surveys: the Nurse Caring Questionnaire (also known as NCQ) and the Patient Caring Questionnaire (PCQ) (Smith et al., 2015). The attitudes and experiences of health care providers and their patients serve as their basis. Sharing grounded experience between these parties represents the major distinct feature of measuring nursing care. Both surveys contain three subscales. They are the following: The Affective, Cognitive, Ethical sub-scale (also known as ACE), the Professional Vigilance sub-scale (also known as PV), and the Interaction sub-scale (also known as INT) (Smith et al., 2015). The first one is beneficial for the assessment of the interpersonal qualities of nurses. The second aspect measures behaviors and processes based on the provider's knowledge. The last one is advantageous for analyzing communication, providing physical comfort, and nurses' teaching and learning abilities.

In addition, the influence of nurses' evidence-based practice on the quality of provided health care can depend on using special nursing quality measures (also known as NCQ). Guidelines, standards, and theoretical and practical research, realized under the guidance of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, 2014), performed the role of the background that developed these measures.

These methods aim to assess various aspects of nursing practice. Diverse methods exist because caring is a comprehensive process. Thus, it is difficult to measure this concept using a single scale method.