TFN (M15 NEWMAN)
MARGARET A. NEWMAN’S THEORY OF HEALTH AS EXPANDING CONSCIOUSNESS
Life Story:
✔ Born on October 10, 1933.
✔ Bachelor’s degree - University of Tennessee in 1962
✔ Master’s degree - University of California in 1964
✔ Doctorate - New York University in 1971 ✔ She has worked in - University of
Tennessee, New York University, Pennsylvania State University, University of
Minnesota, University of Minnesota
Theory Description:
- The theory of health as expanding consciousness is based on Rogers' unitary human
beings theory.
- It was inspired by concern for those for whom health as the absence of disease is not
possible (Newman, 2010).
- The theory emphasizes that health applies to all people, regardless of disease
presence, and asserts that every person, in any situation, is part of the universal process
of expanding consciousness—becoming more of oneself, finding greater meaning, and
connecting with others and the world (Newman, 2010).
- Humans are constantly interacting with the universe's energy system, evolving their
unique patterns of wholeness.
- Recognizing and understanding the pattern is key, as disease pathology exists before
symptoms appear, and removing symptoms does not change the individual's overall
structure.
- Newman redefines nursing as the process of recognizing the individual in relation to
the environment and understanding consciousness.
- Nurses help individuals tap into their inner power to reach higher levels of
consciousness, which aids in understanding the disease process, recovery, and
prevention.
Assumptions of the Theory:
✔ Health encompasses conditions heretofore described as illness, or, in medical
terms, pathology.
✔ These pathological conditions can be considered a manifestation of the total
pattern of the individual
✔ The pattern of the individual that eventually manifests itself as pathology is
primary and exists prior to structural or functional changes.
✔ Removal of the pathology in itself will not change the pattern of the individual.
✔ If becoming ill is the only way an individual's pattern can manifest itself, then that
is health for that person
NOTES NI BINS DI MANG HATAG
TFN (M15 NEWMAN)
Use of Empirical Evidence:
▪ Illness reflected the life patterns of the person and that what was needed was the recognition
of that pattern and acceptance of it for what it meant to that person.
▪ Health and illness are simply manifestations of the rhythmic fluctuations of the life process is
the foundation for viewing health and illness as a unitary process moving through variations in
order-disorder. that is, health as absence of disease or health as a continuum from wellness to
illness. Health and the evolving pattern of consciousness are the same.
▪ The pattern is evolving through various permutations of order and disorder, including what in
everyday language is called health and disease. Pattern recognition emerges from a process of
uncovering meaning in a person’s life. Meaning is inherent in pattern, and vice versa.
▪ Consciousness
o Consciousness includes not only the cognitive and affective awareness normally
associated with consciousness, but also the interconnectedness of the entire
living system, which includes physiochemical maintenance and growth processes
as well as the immune system. This pattern of information, which is the
consciousness of the system, is part of a larger, undivided pattern of an
expanding universe.
o Three Correlates of Consciousness:
1. Movement
2. Time
3. Space
o The relevance of movement, time and space was part of the original explication and
has re-emerged in the evolving patterning of unfolding consciousness.
o To see health as the pattern of the whole, one needs to see disease not as a separate
entity but as a manifestation of the evolving pattern of person-environment
interaction
NOTES NI BINS DI MANG HATAG
TFN (M15 NEWMAN)
Application to Nursing:
▪ Nursing Practice (Administration & Leadership): Useful in the practice of nursing because it
contained concepts used by the nursing profession. Movement and time are an intrinsic
part of nursing intervention, that is, range-of-motion, ambulation, turning, coughing, and
deep- breathing. These parameters are used each day by the nurse in practice.
▪ Nursing Education: Students should have the opportunity to study various approaches to
health and nursing and to choose what is relevant to them in their practice and research.
▪ Nursing Research: Research should center around “participatory investigations in which
subjects (clients) are our partners, our core-searchers, in our search for health patterns”.
Strength:
✔ Generates caring interventions
Weaknesses:
✔ Being abstract
✔ Multi-dimensional and qualitative.
✔ Little discussion on environment
Conclusion:
Newman's theory can be conceptualized as:
▪ A grand theory of nursing
▪ Humans cannot be divided into parts
▪ Health is central to the theory and is seen as a process of developing awareness of self and
the environment
▪ Consciousness is a manifestation of an evolving pattern of person-environment interaction
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