NUR 501 Discussion 6 Peer Responses

NUR 501 Responses Week 6

Response 1: Denise

The Theory of Personhood as used in Nursing as a Caring Theory

Sitzman and Watson (2018) describe the caring theory in nursing as defined by Jean Watson. According to Watson, the core or the central stem of nursing is caring. She emphasizes that nursing entails health promotion, illness prevention, health restoration, and caring for the sick. Nurses demonstrate and practice caring during the implementation of these aspects of healthcare. According to Watson, human beings are viewed as different and more than just the sum of their parts. The concept of caring revolves around four core concepts: nursing, human being, society, and health.

Personhood is viewed as elusive and difficult to measure. Several theorists have tried to define the perception based on their understanding. There are various perceptions and approaches to personhood, including; the body, inherent personhood, interpersonal theories of personhood, and capacity-based approach to personhood. Each of these describes personhood in terms of different concepts. The body describes personhood in terms of the physical components of the being, the mind, and body and how a person’s perception of the body affects how they relate to it. The inherent personhood concept argues that the only criterion is being-in-itself, and this is what defines personhood. The interpersonal theories describe personhood in terms of an individual’s relationship with others. The capacity-based approach outlines that for one to be described as a person, they need to be rational and possess the ability to communicate this to others (Sofronas et al., 2018).

One of the main concepts of caring is the human being. Jean Watson defines humans as different and more than just the sum of their parts. This means, in caring, various aspects that determine the composition of the human need to be addressed (Sitzman & Watson, 2018). The theories of personhood try to identify these different aspects that define a person. Each theory has a different view of what defines a person.

In offering healthcare, the nurse provides holistic care that entails the total care for the patients’ physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and cultural needs. To provide holistic care, they must address every aspect that defines a person, hence the intersection of personhood concepts with the caring theory of nursing. Interpersonal relationships provide psychological nourishment. According to Sofronas et al. ( 2018), interpersonal theories define a person in terms of their relationship with others. The idea of caring requires the nurse to address the psychological well-being of patients. By allowing the patients to interact in support groups and with each other in the wards and with the nurse, the nurses give the patients satisfaction of mind, which helps in compliance with care.

The nurses should manage the physical distress faced by the patients. The theory of the body describes a person in terms of the physical aspects of the being. Therefore, the nurses complete their task of caring by providing physical well-being to the patient. This is how the theory of the body is used in satisfying the requirements of the caring theory in nursing.

Health is another concept addressed by the caring theory in nursing. Sofronas et al. (2018) describe capacity-based-theory as one of the theories of personhood. According to them, one has to be rational and be able to communicate with others. Incapability to express oneself makes one less of a person. Patients, such as those who have dementia, require assistance with cognitive tasks. The nurse ensures a patient is a total person by providing cognitive support to ensure they can rationally express themselves and effectively communicate with each other.

References

Sitzman, K., & Watson, J. (2018). Caring science, mindful practice: Implementing Watson’s human caring theory. Springer Publishing Company.

Sofronas, M., Wright, D. K., & Carnevale, F. A. (2018). Personhood: An evolutionary concept analysis for nursing ethics, theory, practice, and research. In Nursing forum (Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 406-415).

 

 

Response 2: Frantz

 

Introduction

The healthcare sector is burdened with the work of keeping the general public and/or community safe from infections and diseases through creating awareness, diagnosing, and treating ailments. However, the processes that nurses should take must be evidence-based and have a foundation in a supportive theoretical framework. Besides, all types of nurses must understand the diverse theories that are applicable in their relevant specialization or task at hand. In our essay, we shall narrow down to exploring the concept of personhood as a theory in a clinical setting.

Personhood theory

To understand the full concept of personhood, it is important to understand the definitions that have been put forward to define it. Many definitions have been put forward by different scholars regarding personhood. For example, in 1997 (Higgs & Gilleard, 2016), Tom Kitwood defined personhood as the status that is given to a human being by others in the perspective of trust, relationship, and status. Naffine Ngaire (Kurki & Pietrzykowski, 2017) also gave it a definition as the distinct being with duties and rights. In simple terms, just as Dewing (2008) quoted, personhood can be elaborated as the attributes that are inherited by human beings that make them persons.

Personhood can be categorized into diverse types including partial, group, potential, past, irrational, and almost persons. The partial persons include children, group persons include persons with legal/political authority, potential persons include embryos in wombs, while past persons are the dead persons. Likewise, irrational persons are those people living with several disorders while almost persons are other similar animals.

Being a human is the basic attribute of personhood even though other attributes exist that define personhood. These attributes (Park & Choi, 2020) fall into relational and cognitive groups. The relational group is made up of attributes that enhance social relationships while cognitive include those that enhance consciousness, reasoning, possession, morality, and communication attributes.

Now, understanding the nature of personhood gives professional caregivers the ability to engage with patients effectively and center their care to them. To begin with, the personhood concept alters the way a professional caregiver engages and differentiates care with and from person to another. It is through this understanding that personalized or patient-centered care is delivered to different patients. Besides, personhood enhances the communication between the caregiver and the patient at hand. Consider a case where a nurse is dealing with a patient with an elderly patient who is cognitively impaired. In such a case, the nurse will understand that he/she is dealing with an irrational person and develop ways to communicate with them effectively to offer efficient care services. Through personhood, a legal person is installed in the nursing setting and has several laws that protect him/her. Thus, a nurse will always be forced to work within the defined limits of nursing ethics and codes that govern nursing actions. Furthermore, personhood aids in making professional nursing decisions. Consider a case where a potential human, such as a growing fetus, is involved. At such times, decisions in choosing either life or death must be made, and it through personhood concepts that such decisions can be weighed to find the best solution.

Conclusion

In summary, the concept of personhood in nursing aids in delivering patient-centered care, make rational decisions for the patients involved, ensure that nursing codes, ethics, and protocols are followed, and improve caregiver-patient communication. As we have seen in the sections above, the personhood concept has a huge role in enhancing care to every patient while ensuring safety is maintained.

References

Dewing, J. (2008). Personhood and dementia: revisiting Tom Kitwood’s ideas. International journal of older people nursing3(1), 3-13.

Higgs, P., & Gilleard, C. (2016). Interrogating personhood and dementia. Aging & mental health20(8), 773-780.

Kurki, V. A., & Pietrzykowski, T. (2017). Legal personhood: Animals, artificial intelligence and the unborn.

Park, E., & Choi, J. (2020). Attributes associated with person‐centered care competence among undergraduate nursing students. Research in Nursing & Health43(5), 511-519.

 

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