Parse's Theory of Human Becoming

Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming:
Theory Critique Essay
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Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming:
Theory Critique Essay
Abstract
Theories are a valuable aspect of the nursing profession, providing a sound basis for practice and nursing care. One other theory that has become influential in the field of nursing is Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming. However, in order for a theory to be accepted, it must pass a series of criteria and testing. In relation, this paper then involved an exploration of a theory, specifically Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming.
In terms of significance, Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming is significant in the sense that it is able to address the issues of the society in terms of human need for independence, autonomy, and participation with patient care. Parse’s Human Becoming theory is also internally consistent, since it was able to be faithful to its definitions, especially of human becoming. The theory was also able to clearly define its terms and concepts. However, in terms of structural consistency, Parse’s theory may have its weaknesses. For parsimony, Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming involves an alternative way of dealing with patient care by integrating the patient and family’s own perceptions of their situation, it can be seen that the theory can get high marks in terms of parsimony. In terms of testability, the theory provided little means by which it can be measured or analyzed. For empirical adequacy, the theory’s empirical adequacy is something that has been tried and tested in numerous researches. Finally, for pragmatic adequacy, the Human Becoming theory is not really compatible with the Nursing Process, since the theory does not seek to solve problems, but only to understand them.
Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming:
Theory Critique Essay
Introduction
Theories are a valuable aspect of the nursing profession, providing a sound basis for practice and nursing care. Numerous theories have served as the foundation theories of nursing, such as Nightingale’s Environmental Theory. One other theory that has become influential in the field of nursing is Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming. However, in order for a theory to be accepted, it must pass a series of criteria and testing. In relation, this paper will then involve an exploration of a theory, specifically Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming. A background or summary of the theory will be first presented, followed by the analysis of the empiric basis of the theory in terms of significance, internal consistency, parsimony, testability, empirical adequacy, and pragmatic adequacy, as recommended by Fawcett (2005).
Background of the Theory
Parse developed her theory of nursing by combining and synthesizing the different concepts from existentialist-phenomenological thoughts and from Martha Rogers. By analyzing the said concepts, she then provided nine major concepts that served as the main principles of the theory of Human Becoming. These nine principles are actually assumptions about man and about the process of becoming. The said nine principles are summarized below.
“The Human Becoming Theory assumes the following about man: a) The human being is coexistent while con-constituting rhythmical patterns with the universe, b) The human being is open, freely choosing meaning in a situation, as well as bearing responsibility for made decisions, c) The human being is unitary, and continuously co-creating patterns of relaxing, and d) The human being is multi-dimensionally with the possibilities. [Moreover], The Human Becoming Theory assumes the following about becoming: a) Becoming is unitary with human-living-health, b) Becoming involves rhythmically con-constituting the human-universe process, c) Becoming is the human being’s patterns of relating value priorities, d) Becoming is an intersubjective process of transcending with the possibilities, and e) Becoming is the unitary human’s emerging” (Kozier, Erb, Berman, Snyder, Lake, et al., 2008, p.32).
From these nine principles, three main themes can be observed or deduced. These themes relate to, or can be summarized into: a) meaning, b) rhythmicity, and c) transcendence. Still, each theme also leads to expands into another related theme. For example, according to George (2010), “meaning” relates to the creation or learning of language, to valuing, and to imagining, while rhythmicity relates to connecting-separating, enabling-limiting, and revealing-concealing. On the other hand, transcendence relates to transforming, originating, and powering. Each of the main themes come with different processes and mechanisms for nursing care.
In terms of application or significance, Parse’s theory of Human Becoming assists the nurse in focusing on the quality of life of the patient by presenting an alternative to the traditional pharmacological approach of modern medicine, and to the bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach of other models and theories of nursing. In addition, this theory makes it possible for the nurse to assess the patient in such a way that the patient participates in the whole process by being the one to rate his/her quality of life from his/her own perspective. First termed as “Man-living-health Theory” in 1981, the Human Becoming theory also involves the Totality Paradigm, wherein man is viewed as a result of the interaction of different spiritual, sociological, psychological, biological, and other factors (Parse, 1992).
Analysis of Empiric Basis of Theory
Significance
According to Fawcett (2005), significance involves the degree by which the theory has a vital use or contribution to the field it belongs to. Significance can be divided into two: social significance and theoretical significance. A theory is socially significant if it is able to address or solve a problem that is of interest to society. On the other hand, a theory is theoretically significant if it is able to address a phenomenon that is of interest to the discipline it is supposed to cover. The theory achieves such by filling or extending gaps in a pre-existing theory regarding a phenomenon or subject.
For Parse’s Theory of Human Becoming, significance can be seen in the fact that it is able to address the issues of the...