Kolcaba's Comfort Theory Essay

Throughout nursing history, many nursing theorists have referred to comfort as a basic need for which nursing care is delivered. This simple concept of comfort, however, was never clearly defined. Comfort has many meanings and can be used in many different ways. Kolcaba’s comfort theory explains how a patient’s comfort exists in three forms –relief, ease, and transcendence (Kolcaba, 2003, p. 9). When a person’s specific needs are met or a specific discomfort is alleviated, for example receiving pain medication post-operatively, the individual is able to experience comfort through relief. A patient experiences comfort in the ease sense when they are in a state of calm or contentment. For example, when a patient’s anxiety is eliminated or reduced
A patient experiences comfort in the transcendence sense when they are able to “rise above their problem or pain” (Kolcaba, 2003, p. 9) when relief or ease may be unable to be met. Some examples of transcendence would include an individual with a knee replacement who pushes through the pain in physical therapy to regain their strength, or a patient who goes through with chemotherapy because they are inspired/motivated and know it must be done. Kolcaba also addresses the four contexts in which comfort can occur and should be addressed, not only in the physical, but also through the patient’s psycho-spiritual, environmental, and sociocultural.
As stated by Ana Luisa Teixeria da Costa Durante, Teresa Tonini, and Luana Rodrigues Armini (2014) in a study regarding palliative care, comfort “is much more than the absence of pain or other physical discomforts”. Kolcaba’s theory addresses the importance for nurses to address patients in a holistic manner and understand that a patient’s environment, psycho-spiritual, and