A deconstruction of caring.
This paper presents the argument that much of the current focus on caring in nursing is misdirected in that it is aimed at explaining a complex process with conceptual similarities to teaching, in terms of behavioural categories and structures. It is asserted that a pervasive use of the word 'caring' as synonymous with nursing has contributed to an erroneous emphasis in general nursing on emotional caring. This reflects a dualist notion of physical and emotional care, operationalized as separate nursing activities. The growing association of nursing with caring is thought to reinforce a fallacious distinction between caring and curing which has particularly impeded the development of a truly psychotherapeutic role for psychiatric nurses. It is concluded that nursing skills will be neither elucidated by further analysis of the concept of care nor promulgated by the connotations of the word.
Phillips
P
P
Leeds College of Health, West Yorkshire, England.
D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000523:psychology; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D013663:Teaching; D014930:Women