Transpersonal Care for the Dying
Caring for terminal patients near the end of life is a practical matter than extends far beyond the skills learned in clinical practice and being a competent nurse. It is based on a level of interaction with another human being that transcends the self and attempts to heal on a non-physical plane. The type of caring involved in developing an effective relationship, as a nurse, with a person facing death is most clearly defined by Jean Watson. Watson developed a theory of nursing based on caring. It is a theory embedded in art and science, but also includes elements of spirituality and dimensions of mind-body-spirit. Watson challenges the nurse to examine one’s own humanistic values, encouraging the process of self-actualization for the nurse while providing care to other beings. Watson (2003) believes it is necessary to be consistently engaged in the care and also reflective of one’s own humanity and spirituality. Watson is one of the few theorists who considers the well-being of not only the cared-for, but also the caregiver. Promoting the caring values as set forth by Watson enables the nurse to find deeper meaning in his or her life and work. According to Watson (2001), the major elements of her theory are (a) the carative factors, (b) the transpersonal caring relationship, and (c) the caring occasion/caring moment. Watson uses the term “carative” instead of the medical terminology “curative” to highlight the idea that her nursing theory revolves around the science of caring. The following are Watson’s (2001) translation of the carative factors into clinical caritas processes: 1) Practice of loving kindness and equanimity within context of caring consciousness.2) Being authentically present, and enabling and sustaining the deep belief system and subjective life world of self and the one-being-cared-for. 3) Cultivation of one’s own spiritual practices and transpersonal self, going beyond ego self, opening to others with sensitivity and
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