Parse's Theory of Nursing Human Becoming Theory

Nursing Human Becoming Theory By Parse's 

Parse's Theory,Who is a Person,Human Health,Three Principles of Human Constitute,Di-mentions and Guidelines,Theoretical Perspectives,In Nursing Education,Life Long Perspectives.

Parse's Theory 

     Human becoming theory (Parse, 1992, 1995) was first entitled Man-Living-Health: A theory of nursing (Parse, 1981). In 1998, Parse published The Human Becoming School of Thought: A Perspective for Nurses and Other Health Professionals (HBST), a welcome second edition of her original work. 

    This new book gives clear undated explanations of the model, reflecting and elaborating on the research and practice methodologies that were developed after the publication of the first edition. 

    Parse's theory evolved from concern about the use of the medical model applied to the nursing discipline. She was dissatisfied with the mechanistic view of human beings and its lack of congruence with the focus and goals of nursing. 

    The human becoming theory describes a theory of nursing that views the mysteries and uniqueness of human beings as unitary beings in mutual process with a multidimensional universe.

Who is a Person

    Parse (1998) draws from Roger's Science of Unitary Human Beings and the writings on existential phenomenology when she defines the person as being in a process of continuous becoming within the HBST. Humans are described as unitary living beings who are a unity and have more than the sum of their parts. 

    Each person cocreates reality in a mutual process with the environment. Quality of life is a central concept within the HBST. According to Parse, any individual capable of the experiences of a living person has a quality of life. 

    She further clarifies that quality of life is subjective and that the nurse should accept quality of life as the patient sees it regardless of the nurse's objective assessment of the patient's quality of life. The goal of nursing is quality of life in Parse's theory(Parse) thus demonstrating the importance of this concept with the theory.

Human Health

    Within the HBST Parse states that human's health is becoming and is a way of living. She clarifies this by stating that health is nonlinear and therefore one cannot have degrees of health. According to this definition it appears that all one needs to have health is the ability to lead a human life. 

    Human Becoming Theory is guided by nine philosophical assumptions about human beings and becoming that were synthesized from Rogers' Science of Unitary Human Beings and the writings on existential phenomenology. 

    Becoming is “the human's patterns of relating value priorities” (Parse, 1998, p. 20). It is the way one leads one's life. The choices an individual makes identify not only that individual's value priorities but also the type of person he identifies himself as being.

Three Principles of Human Constitute

    Three principles about becoming human constitute the theoretical structure. Principle 1 states, “structuring meaning multi dimensionally is cocreating reality through the language of valuing and imaging” (Parse, 1998, p. 35). The major conceptual processes of this principle are imagining, valuing, and languaging (parse). 

    Principle 2 is that “co- creating rhythmical patterns of relating is liv-ing the paradoxical unity of revealing- concealing, enabling- limiting, and connecting- separating” (Parse, p. 42). 

    Principle 3 states, “cotranscending with the possibles is powering unique ways of originating in the process of transforming” (Parse, p. 46). The key conceptual processes for this principle are powering, originating, and transforming (Parse). Parse identifies two types of research within the HBST, basic and applied (Parse, p. 61). 

    Basic research is research that explores the lived experience and human becoming. while applied research evaluates HBST and its application in nursing practice. The basic research focuses on the individual's life experiences. Parse has developed a specific research methodology based on phenomenological hermeneutic methods. 

    It is a qualitative method that focuses on universal human experiences described by research participants. There are three phases involved in this research, dialogical engagement (researcher-participant), extraction-synthesis (dwelling with the data), and heuristic interpretation (parse). 

    The foci of knowledge development for the discipline within this type of research are the universal lived experiences of individuals, such as hope, joy-sorrow, grieving, and persevering.

Dimensions and Guidelines

    In addition, Parse (1998) has delineated a practice method that guides the practice of nurses implementing the theory. She has developed dimensions and processes to guide nurses within the HBST. The goal of nursing is quality of life from the perspective of the patient. 

    The artistic medium employed by the nurse is described as true presence, the basis of nursing practice. True presence is an “intentional reflective love” (Parse, p. 71). The nurse engages with the person by devoting one's attention to the person and trying to immerse oneself in that person's universe. 

    Nurses must understand that both the individual's perspective of his illness and the views of his family about his illness are very important. Within the HBST, nursing provides suitable conditions so that the patient and the family can accept the health concern. 

    Parse does not expect the nurse to change anything apart from providing optimum conditions to facilitate acceptance in the patient and family.

Theoretical Perspectives 

    Parse (2004) continues to expand her theoretical perspectives with the introduction of the human becoming teaching-learning processes. The human becoming teaching-learning model is made up of essences, paradoxes, and processes. The essences are semantic coherence, synergistic patterning, and aesthetically innovating (Parse). 

    The paradoxes are rational intuition, clarifying obscuring, Waring woofing, ebbing flowing, considering composing, and beholding refining (parse). The processes are living with ambiguity, appreciating the mystery, potentiating integrity, weaving multidimensionally, honoring wisdom, and witnessing unfolding (Parse). 

    Parse believes that these essences, paradoxes, and processes provide a model for teaching-learning in which pattern-seeing-see-changing-all-at-once shifts understanding in the never-ending journey of coming-to-know . 

In Nursing Education

    Nurse educators have incorporated the teaching-learning processes into student's experiences through development of a reflective journaling process to enhance the normally expected journaling experience (Letcher & Yancey, 2004). 

    The teaching learning processes used by Letcher and Yancer included living with ambiguity, appreciating the mystery, honoring the wisdom, inventing the possibles, and witnessing the unfolding. Through reflective journaling the students explored the meaning of their teaching-learning experience. 

    An outgrowth of this work was the development of an interactive distance learninging experience between two groups of students at different schools of nursing so that they could explore the meaning of this experience with others. 

    Recommendations for future work include linking groups of students earlier in their nursing program and development of distance strategies for such linkage (Letcher & Yancey). 

    The human becoming teaching-learning model provides new approaches to journaling and networking with students while enriching the nursing experience from a theoretical perspective.

Life Long Perspectives

    Bunkers (2002) has developed a theoretical perspective on lifelong learning through linking Parse's theory of human becoming to seven Da Vincian principles identified by Gelb (1998). The Da Vincian principles reflect all the salient features of Parse's model. 

    This unique link provides a nursing theory perspective on lifelong learning and sets out a framework for the development of new possibilities for lifelong learning. Nurse educators are exploring teaching strategies that address the needs of today's student, such as opportunities to learn theoretical underpinnings of nursing and availability of distance courses. 

    JR Norris (2002) explored one-to-one teleapprenticeship as a teaching and learning strategy for Parse's model. Teleapprenticeship is defined as a one-to-one learning relationship, developed solely by e-mail, between a mentor and student. 

    This was useful in guiding a student in the theoretical aspects of the Parse model but was unable to provide the depth and skills required to become an expert in the practice methodology of the theory. 

    Further research is needed in this area, particularly looking at the synchronized versus nonsynchronized discussions, video conferencing, chat rooms, and other technology that could potentially benefit this teaching-learning strategy.