Martha Rogers - The Science
of Unitary and Irreducible Human Beings
The “Slinky”
Imagine the life process moving along the “Slinky” spirals with the human field occupying space along the spiral and extending out in all directions from any given location along a spiral. Each turn of the spiral exemplifies the rhythmical nature of life, while distortions of the spiral portray deviations from nature’s regularities. Variations in the speed of change through time may be perceived by narrowing or widening the distance between spirals.
Major Concepts
Human-unitary human beings
“Irreducible, indivisible, multidimensionality energy fields identified by pattern and manifesting characteristics that are specific to the whole and which cannot be predicted from the knowledge of the parts.”
Health
“Unitary human health signifies an irreducible human field manifestation. It cannot be measured by the parameters of biology or physics or of the social sciences.
Nursing
“The study of unitary, irreducible, indivisible human and environmental fields: people and their world.”
Scope of Nursing
Nursing aims to assist people in achieving their maximum health potential. Maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of disease, nursing diagnosis, intervention, and rehabilitation encompass the scope of nursing’s goals.
Nursing is concerned with people-all people-well and sick, rich and poor, young and old. The arenas of nursing’s services extend into all areas where there are people: at home, at school, at work, at play; in hospital, nursing home, and clinic; on this planet and now moving into outer space.
Environmental Field
“An irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field indentified by pattern and integral with the human field.”
Energy Field
“The fundamental unit of the living and non-living. Field is a unifying concept. Energy signifies the dynamic nature of the field; a field is in continuous motion and is infinite.”
An energy field identifies the conceptual boundaries of man. This field is electrical in nature, is in continual state of flux, and varies continuously in its intensity, density, and extent. (Rogers, 1970)
“Irreducible, indivisible, multidimensionality energy fields identified by pattern and manifesting characteristics that are specific to the whole and which cannot be predicted from the knowledge of the parts.”
Health
“Unitary human health signifies an irreducible human field manifestation. It cannot be measured by the parameters of biology or physics or of the social sciences.
Nursing
“The study of unitary, irreducible, indivisible human and environmental fields: people and their world.”
Scope of Nursing
Nursing aims to assist people in achieving their maximum health potential. Maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of disease, nursing diagnosis, intervention, and rehabilitation encompass the scope of nursing’s goals.
Nursing is concerned with people-all people-well and sick, rich and poor, young and old. The arenas of nursing’s services extend into all areas where there are people: at home, at school, at work, at play; in hospital, nursing home, and clinic; on this planet and now moving into outer space.
Environmental Field
“An irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field indentified by pattern and integral with the human field.”
Energy Field
“The fundamental unit of the living and non-living. Field is a unifying concept. Energy signifies the dynamic nature of the field; a field is in continuous motion and is infinite.”
An energy field identifies the conceptual boundaries of man. This field is electrical in nature, is in continual state of flux, and varies continuously in its intensity, density, and extent. (Rogers, 1970)
Subconcepts
Openness
“Refers to qualities exhibited by open systems; human beings and their environment are open systems.”
Pandimensional
“A nonlinear domain without spatial or temporal attributes.”
Synergy is defined as the unique behavior of whole systems, unpredicted by any behaviors of their component functions taken separately.
Human behavior is synergistic.
Pattern
“The distinguishing characteristic of an energy field perceived as a single wave.”
Principles of Homeodynamics
Homeodynamics should be understood as a dynamic version of homeostasis (a relatively steady state of internal operation in the living system).
Principle of Reciprocy
Postulates the inseparability of man and environment and predicts that sequential changes in life process are continuous, probabilistic revisions occurring out of the interactions between man and environment.
Principle of Synchrony
This principle predicts that change in human behavior will be determined by the simultaneous interaction of the actual state of the human field and the actual state of the environmental field at any given point in space-time.
Principle of Integrality (Synchrony + Reciprocy)
Because of the inseparability of human beings and their environment, sequential changes in the life processes are continuous revisions occurring from the interactions between human beings and their environment.
Between the two entities, there is a constant mutual interaction and mutual change whereby simultaneous molding is taking place in both at the same time.
Principle of Resonancy
It speaks to the nature of the change occurring between human and environmental fields. The life process in human beings is a symphony of rhythmical vibrations oscillating at various frequencies.
It is the identification of the human field and the environmental field by wave patterns manifesting continuous change from longer waves of lower frequency to shorter waves of higher frequency.
Principle of Helicy
The human-environment field is a dynamic, open system in which change is continuous due to the constant interchange between the human and environment.
This change is also innovative. Because of constant interchange, an open system is never exactly the same at any two moments; rather, the system is continually new or different. (Rogers, 1970)
“Refers to qualities exhibited by open systems; human beings and their environment are open systems.”
Pandimensional
“A nonlinear domain without spatial or temporal attributes.”
Synergy is defined as the unique behavior of whole systems, unpredicted by any behaviors of their component functions taken separately.
Human behavior is synergistic.
Pattern
“The distinguishing characteristic of an energy field perceived as a single wave.”
Principles of Homeodynamics
Homeodynamics should be understood as a dynamic version of homeostasis (a relatively steady state of internal operation in the living system).
Principle of Reciprocy
Postulates the inseparability of man and environment and predicts that sequential changes in life process are continuous, probabilistic revisions occurring out of the interactions between man and environment.
Principle of Synchrony
This principle predicts that change in human behavior will be determined by the simultaneous interaction of the actual state of the human field and the actual state of the environmental field at any given point in space-time.
Principle of Integrality (Synchrony + Reciprocy)
Because of the inseparability of human beings and their environment, sequential changes in the life processes are continuous revisions occurring from the interactions between human beings and their environment.
Between the two entities, there is a constant mutual interaction and mutual change whereby simultaneous molding is taking place in both at the same time.
Principle of Resonancy
It speaks to the nature of the change occurring between human and environmental fields. The life process in human beings is a symphony of rhythmical vibrations oscillating at various frequencies.
It is the identification of the human field and the environmental field by wave patterns manifesting continuous change from longer waves of lower frequency to shorter waves of higher frequency.
Principle of Helicy
The human-environment field is a dynamic, open system in which change is continuous due to the constant interchange between the human and environment.
This change is also innovative. Because of constant interchange, an open system is never exactly the same at any two moments; rather, the system is continually new or different. (Rogers, 1970)
Assumptions
Man is a unified whole possessing his own integrity and manifesting
characteristics that are more than and different from the sum of his parts.
Man and environment are continuously exchanging matter and energy with one another.
The life process evolves irreversibly and unidirectionally along the space-time continuum.
Pattern and organization identify man and reflect his innovative wholeness.
Man is characterized by the capacity for abstraction and imagery, language and thought, sensation and emotion. (Rogers, 1970)
Man and environment are continuously exchanging matter and energy with one another.
The life process evolves irreversibly and unidirectionally along the space-time continuum.
Pattern and organization identify man and reflect his innovative wholeness.
Man is characterized by the capacity for abstraction and imagery, language and thought, sensation and emotion. (Rogers, 1970)
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths:
Rogers’ concepts provide a worldview from which nurses may derive theories and hypotheses and propose relationships specific to different situations.
Rogers’ work is not directly testable due to lack of concrete hypotheses, but it is testable in principle.
Weaknesses:
It is an abstract, unified, and highly derived framework and does not define particular hypotheses or theories.
Concepts are not directly measurable thus testing the concepts’ validity is questionable.
It is difficult to comprehend because the concepts are extremely abstract.
Nurses’ roles were not clearly defined.
No concrete definition of health state.
Rogers’ concepts provide a worldview from which nurses may derive theories and hypotheses and propose relationships specific to different situations.
Rogers’ work is not directly testable due to lack of concrete hypotheses, but it is testable in principle.
Weaknesses:
It is an abstract, unified, and highly derived framework and does not define particular hypotheses or theories.
Concepts are not directly measurable thus testing the concepts’ validity is questionable.
It is difficult to comprehend because the concepts are extremely abstract.
Nurses’ roles were not clearly defined.
No concrete definition of health state.
Analysis
Apart from the usual way of other nurse theorists in defining the major
concepts of a theory, Rogers’ gave much focus on how a nurse should view the
patient. She developed principles which emphasizes that a nurse should view the
client as a whole.
Application into Practice
Application into Practice
Her statements remind every nurse practitioner that to retain the
integrity of the individual, he or she should be viewed as one complex system
interacting with the environment and care should not be fractionalized in
different categories.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Being given with as wide range of principles and statements from
Rogers, an aspiring nurse theorist can develop his or her own concepts guided
with her work. Her assumptions are not confined with a specific nursing
approach making it highly generalizable.
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