1. Chapter 19
Models and Theories
Focused on Human
Existence and
Universal Energy

2. Introduction
• Martha Rogers pioneered energy-focused nursing
that posited a radically different view of the
human being and the environment.
• Her theory was followed by those of Margaret
Newman, Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, and Elizabeth
Barrett.
• Each theory describes nursing as having roots
outside of the biomedical model and offer a
different vision of nursing.

3. • Rogers proposed the science of unitary human
beings based on four postulates:
– Energy fields: Infinite, continuously flowing energy
that is fundamental to all life
– Openness: No division exists between energy
fields, allowing energy to flow unbroken
– Pattern: Energy flow is subject to field patterning
– Pandimensionality: Phenomena are
manifestations of changing field patterns
Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings(1 of 4)

4. • Continuous change within the human-
environmental field is homeodynamics, which
relies on three principles:
– Resonancy: Continuous change from lower to higher
frequency wave patterns
– Helicy: Continuous, unpredictable, increasing diversity
of field patterns
– Integrality: Continuous mutual human and
environmental field process
• Principles describe unpredictably changing mutual
patterning of fields.
Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings(2 of 4)

5. Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings(3 of 4)
• Rogers identified three theories of her
science:
– Theory of accelerating change (evolution): Change is
accelerating in field patterning, creating new norms
– Theory of emergence of paranormal phenomena:
Paranormal experiences are manifestations of
innovative field patterning
– Theory of manifestations of field patterning in unitary
human beings: Change in field patterning is nonlinear,
creative, and unpredictable

6. • Emphasis on human rights, client decision
making, and noncompliance.
– Noncompliance: Clients know themselves best
and have the right to make informed decisions
• Assumption of increasing diversity calls for the
greater individualized care.
• Theory derivation from the science of unitary
human beings continues.
Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings(4 of 4)

7. • Barrett’s theory builds on Rogers’ science by
proposing that human’s knowing participation in
change is power.
• Promotes power-as-freedom, a spiritual worldview
proposing that power is awareness of what one
chooses to do, feeling free to do it, and doing it
intentionally.
• Important for the development of power profiles to
enhance client awareness.
Barrett’s Power as Knowing Participation in
Change

8. Other Rogerian-Based Practice
Examples
• Cowling’s pattern appreciation method
proposed 10 constituent characteristics of
Rogerian practice based on knowing
participation in health pattern change.
• Butcher’s comprehensive practice model
identified the focus of nursing care as pattern
manifestation recognition and health
promotion as voluntary mutual patterning.

9. Rogerian Research
• Early research focused on tool development tied
to proposed manifestations of change.
• More recent research has focused on qualitative,
rather than quantitative, research methods
designed to unfold human-environmental field
patterns.
• Three important current research methods are
the Rogerian process of inquiry, Bitcher’s unitary
field pattern portrait research, and Cowling’s
unitary case inquiry.

10. Applications: Science of Unitary
Human Beings
• Rogerian ideas can be applied through
therapeutic touch, relaxation techniques,
imagery exercises, and storytelling that comfort
and rejuvenate patients when administered in
conjunction with standard therapies.
• These practices center on understanding and
applying the unique aspects of nursing in addition
to the science of nursing.

11. Newman’s Theory of Health as
Expanding Consciousness (1 of 4)
• Foundational concepts include movement, time,
space, and consciousness.
• Newman’s theory proposes that the person is a
pattern of the evolving whole, continually
transforming through seemingly chaotic
processes.
• Expanding consciousness is a form of
transformation that results from disruptive
patterns, such as the inability to move freely in
bed-ridden patients.

12. • These patterns change client perceptions of time
and space in a dynamic way.
• This dynamic situation offers the client
opportunity to reflect on evolving new patterns
of relating because the old patterns no longer
work.
• A move toward compassionate consciousness
reflecting wholeness (health), caring, evolving
pattern, mutual process, and transformation.
Newman’s Theory of Health as Expanding
Consciousness (2 of 4)

13. Newman’s Theory of Health as Expanding
Consciousness (3 of 4)
• Theory can be synthesized in three basic
assumptions:
– Health is an evolving unitary pattern of the whole,
including patterns of disease
– Consciousness is the informational capacity of the
whole and is revealed in the evolving pattern
– Pattern identifies the human-environmental
process and is characterized by meaning

14. Newman’s Theory of Health as Expanding
Consciousness (4 of 4)
• Theory necessitates a paradigm shift in which
order is revealed through emerging relationships.
• Shift encompasses important conceptual
movements:
– Finding patterns rather than treating symptoms
– Viewing pain as an important source of pattern
information
– Treating disease as a process rather than an entity
– Viewing the body as a dynamic energy field

15. Newman Praxis
• Praxis based on theory-research-practice.
– An interactive unity
• Research involves recording nurse-client
conversations with a focus on meaning rather
than data.
• Conversations form the basis of a chronological
narrative used to detect patterns.
• Theory is applied to these patterns to determine
if transformation has taken place.

16. Applications: Health as Expanding
Consciousness
• Newman’s ideas are applied by nurses who
are fully present in the nurse-client
relationship and function as a transforming
presence in the client’s life.
• The fully present nurse guides clients through
phases of self-awareness, deepening
awareness, appreciating meaning, and
transformation in a mutual partnership that
facilitates personal healing.

17. Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s Humanbecoming
School of Thought(1 of 2)
• Parse’s humanbecoming is a unitary construct
that describes a person’s co-creation of
rhythmical patterns of relating in a mutual
process with the universe.
• As a result, health is becoming, or a way of
living and a synthesis of personal values.

18. • Three principles form the basis of
humanbecoming:
– Rather than confronting external reality, humans
construct their own reality by giving significance
to situations
– Creating patterns of relating requires humans to
engage in paradoxical rhythms
– Becoming requires humans to move beyond what
is to what could be while resisting new ways of
viewing both the familiar and the new
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s Humanbecoming
School of Thought(2 of 2)

19. Humanbecoming Research (1 of 2)
• Research focuses on understanding the meaning of
lived experiences as described by the people
experiencing them through four steps:
– Participant description of experiences
– Data gathering through dialogue
– Synthesis of information to identify study focus
– Linkage of findings back to theory
• The three processes are dialogical engagement,
extraction–synthesis, and heuristic interpretation.

20. • Parse perceived the nurses role as being truly
present with people to enhance their quality of
life.
• Methodology involves three principles:
– Explicating
– Dwelling with
– Moving beyond
• Practice involves the nurse and client in
discussion, which opens the door for reflection
on health pattern choices.
Humanbecoming Research (2 of 2)

21. Applications: Humanbecoming
Theory
• Parse’s ideas are applied by nurses who are
present with clients, respect their dignity, make
decision-support information available, provide
helpful services, and encourage and participate
in movement.
• Humanbecoming nurses make a significant
investment of time in order to develop close
relationships with their clients.

22. Summary
• Theory-based practice differentiates nurses
from other health care providers and
resonates meaningfully with clients.
• Immersion in theory is the key to practicing it,
and like-minded colleagues can prove helpful
in this pursuit.
• Eventually, this process leads to personal and
professional change.