Rea C.

Tubat
BSN 1-A

Nursing Theorist: Savina O. Schoenhofer

Nursing Background
 Education
During the 1960s, Schoenhofer spent 3 years in the Amazon
region of Brazil, working as a volunteer in community
development. Her initial nursing degree was completed at Wichita State University,
where she also earned graduate degrees in nursing, psychology, and counseling. She
completed a PhD in educational foundations and administration at Kansas State
University in 1983. In 1990, Schoenhofer co-founded Nightingale Songs, an early venue
for communicating the beauty of nursing in poetry and prose. An early study made it
apparent to Schoenhofer that caring was the service that patients overwhelmingly
recognized. In addition to her work on caring, including co-authorship with Boykin
of Nursing as Caring: A Model for Transforming Practice (1993, 2001a), Schoenhofer has
written numerous articles on nursing values, primary care, nursing education, support,
touch, and mentoring.

 Nursing Experience
Dr. Schoenhofer serves on the Ethics Advisory Committee at the University of
Mississippi Medical Center, where she consults and advises on questions of ethics in
clinical situations that arise in practice and health care ethics education in clinical and
education settings. She is Professor of Nursing at University of Mississippi Medical Center
School of Nursing in Jackson and Adjunct Professor at the Florida Atlantic University
College of Nursing, Boca Raton. Dr. Schoenhofer is committed to the study of nursing as
caring.

Nursing Theorist: Anne Boykin

Nursing Background
 Education
She began her career in nursing in 1966, graduating
from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received
her master’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia,
and her doctorate degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
  Nursing Experience
Dr. Boykin is currently the Director of the college’s new Anne Boykin Institute for
the Advancement of Caring in Nursing. Boykin has a longstanding commitment to the
advancement of knowledge in the discipline, especially regarding the phenomenon of
caring. Positions she has held in the International Association for Human Caring include
president elect (1990 to 1993), president (1993 to 1996), and member of the nominating
committee (1997 to 1999). As immediate past president, she served as coeditor of the
journal, International Association for Human Caring, from 1996 to 1999.

NURSING THEORY: The theory of nursing as caring: A model for transforming practice

Nursing Philosophy
The Theory of Nursing as Caring was borne out of the early curriculum development work
at Florida Atlantic University College of Nursing. Anne Boykin and Savina Schoenhofer were
among the faculty group revising the caring-based curriculum. When the revised curriculum was
instituted, each recognized the importance and human necessity of continuing to develop ideas
toward a comprehensive conceptual framework that expressed the meaning and purpose of
nursing as a discipline and as a profession. The point of departure from traditional thought was
the acceptance that caring is the end rather than the means of nursing, and the intention of
nursing rather than merely its instrument. This work led Boykin and Schoenhofer to conceptualize
the focus of nursing as “nurturing persons living caring and growing in caring

Metaparadigm

 Nursing
Nursing is an “exquisitely interwoven” (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 2001a, p. 6) unity
of aspects of the discipline and profession of nursing. As a discipline, nursing is a way of
knowing, being, valuing, and living in the world, and is envisaged as a unity of knowledge
within a larger unity.

 Environment
As a process, personhood acknowledges the potential of persons to live caring and
is enhanced through participation in nurturing relationships with caring others. The
nature of relationships is transformed through caring. Caring is living in the context of
relational responsibilities and possibilities, and it acknowledges the importance of
knowing person as person. “Through knowing self as caring person, I am able to be
authentic to self, freeing me to truly be with others.
  Health
Personhood is a process of living caring and growing in caring: It is being authentic,
demonstrating congruence between beliefs and behaviors, and living out the meaning of
one’s life. Personhood acknowledges the potential for unfolding caring possibilities
moment to moment. From the perspective of Nursing as Caring, personhood is the
universal human call. This implies that the fullness of being human is expressed in living
caring uniquely day to day and is enhanced through participation in caring relationships

 Person
The belief that persons are caring by virtue of their humanness sets forth the
ontological and ethical bases on which the theory is grounded. Being a person means
living caring, through which being and possibilities are known to the fullest. Each person
throughout his or her life grows in the capacity to express caring. The assumption that all
persons are caring does not require that each act of a person be caring, but it does require
the acceptance that “fundamentally, potentially, and actually, each person is caring

Diagram of the Theory

Compassion and Caring Every individual has his/her own unique perception of caring. There
are so many ways to show caring that the possibilities are endless. Nurses are often associated with
caring because they support, comfort, and help the patient recover to the best of their ability. Their
experiences dealing with different patients that have unique situations on a daily basis help them
become better caregivers.
I know that it will not be easy, but I am confident in preparing myself and gaining the
knowledge necessary to give hope even to those who refuse to get well. I want to make a difference
in someone’s life, and comfort those in times of loss. I intend to be a nurse who will never give up
on her patients no matter how terminal their illness, I will always be there encouraging them to
enjoy every second they have. I will treat my patients with respect, dignity, kindness, compassion,
caring, understanding, and do the best to give them a positive outlook. Happiness, joy, and
enthusiasm are very contagious, and a simple smile, touch, or even one word can turn around a
patient’s day. I will do my best to understand their history, illness, and treatment to keep them
informed and updated on their health status. I will always put my patient first and encourage them
to communicate fears, stories, needs, hopes, and comforts to have a better understanding of the
most efficient way to help them recover.