Rosemarie Parse

Rosemarie Parse, from her early years in nursing, has searched for a new or different way to learn and practice nursing. Her belief was that humans co-write their own health and that nurses do not control a person’s health choices. Her focus was on the experiences that a person lives and the view that person has of their health. She has authored, coauthored and edited texts that have played a huge role in nursing disciplines. She is the founder and editor of the journal Nursing Science Quarterly and has published many articles that offer nurses and others the opportunity to think and act in different ways in their nursing practice. Parse’s theory, which was originally called the “man-living-health” theory, originated in 1981. The name was officially changed in 1992 to “human becoming” due to the definition change of man from humankind to male human. The Theory of Human Becoming is adapted from the works of Martha Rogers and others such as Dilthey (1961), Heidegger(1962) , Sartre (1966), and Merlean-Ponty (1962). (Mitchell, 2006). The theory of Human Becoming consists of three principles and nine concepts. Mitchell (2006) states the nine concepts as
• The human is coexisting while co-constituting rhythmical patterns with the universe.
• The human is open, freely choosing meaning in situation, bearing responsibility for decisions.
• The human is unitary, continuously co-constituting patterns of relating.
• The human is transcending multi-dimensionally with the possibles.
• Becoming is unitary human-living-health.
• Becoming is a rhythmically co-constituting human-universe process.
• Becoming is the human’s patterns of relating value priorities.
• Becoming is an intersubjective process of transcending with the possibles.
• Becoming is unitary human’s emerging.
“The first principle provides three frames that shape what nurses think about humans before they approach persons in practice.” It uses imaging, valuing and languaging. Imaging is how the person knows his or her personal realities, valuing embraces what is important and languaging if how the person relates with the world. (Parse 1992). Principle two relates to co-creating rhythmic patterns that constitute patterns of becoming. Mitchell, states there are three specific unities that are rhythmic. Revealing-concealing deals with how a person shows his or her thoughts, feelings, values, concerns and hopes. Enabling-limiting is concerned with the choices a person makes from moment to moment and the opportunities and limitations that come from these choices. Connecting-separating concerns to ways in which a person can be with another while also being separate from them. (Fawcett, 2001). In the final principle, Mitchell states that humans create themselves with their hopes and dreams by using powering, originating and transforming. Powering has involves how humans take the initiative. “To power is to risk losing something of value or even one’s life.” (Mitchell, 2006). Originating pertains to human uniqueness. People try to be like others yet maintain their own persona and are the choices that they make with their consequences. The last concept of principle three deals with transforming, which is a shift of ones attitude from the illogical to the logical or vise versa. The Theory of Human Becoming is an alternative way in which healthcare professionals can look at the person as something other than a patient. A person in this theory are the co-authors of his or her own health. The focus is placed on human dignity and freedom and that a person is free to choose their concerns, dreams, hope, and attitudes. The choices that a person makes, in this theory, will ultimately lead to their health. (Parse, 1992). A persons health, which Parse defines “as an open, unitary process of becoming one with the universe,” is seen as the way in which a person lives their values is constant with their hopes, and dreams. Parse’s thoughts on health are that no one can describe the values of a person and that another person cannot decide how they will live these values. Health relates to ways in which a person wants to be. The way a person lives his or her life shapes the experience that they live. Nursing is a profession that is ever changing and has been mechanized, absence of knowledge based practice, the disregard of nurses critical thinking skills. The system focuses on the nurses’ identification of the problem, the prescribed interventions, and the outcomes that are determined by the evidence of studies on particular populations. The computerized classification system is thought to be a loss of the human contact with the patient as far as the gathering of information, validation of the person’s beliefs and values. Parse (2004) believes that the absence of the nurses knowledge base has been “rendered invisible” due to the classification systems that are being used today. Because of this, Parse feels that nursings’ future is in danger. Parse states that the environment of her theory has to do with the nurse-person process and that nurses assists others at the moment at hand and through immersion. The participation of nurses with the patient, family and others helps to make a difference in the patient’s outcomes and have the opportunity to assist them during times of change, struggle, uncertainty, and hope. (Mitchell, 2006). Since the beginning of the Theory of human becoming, Parse has published many articles that have, and do, give the nursing profession something to think about and to stretch the imagination. Her continuous work and her commitment to knowledge as the basis for nursing will continue to help us see that we are all an open book and that what we live, we also become.

Reference

Alligood, M., & Tomey, A. (2006). Nursing theory: Utilization & application (3rd ed.).
St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.
Fawcett, J. (2001). The Nurse Theorist: 21st Century Updates – Rosemarie Rizzo Parse.
Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 14 No. 2, April 2001, 126-131.
Mitchell, G. (2006). Nursing theory: Utilization & application (3rd ed.). St. Louis, MO:
Mosby Elsevier.
Parse, R. R. (1990). Nursing theory-based practice: A challenge for the 90s. Nursing Science Quarterly, 3, 53.
Parse, R. R. (1992). Human becoming theory: The was, is and will be. Nursing Science Quarterly, 10, p.32-38.
Parse, R. R. (2004). Person-Centered Care. Editorial. Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 17 No 3, 193.