Bending a habit: critical social theory as a framework for humanistic nursing education

Nursing education is currently experiencing a transition away from a focus on behavioral outcomes and toward a focus which better reflects the humanistic, caring aspects of nursing. Nursing educational content and process must reflect this changing focus of healthcare, which itself is transgressing away from the inherent objectivism of acute care toward the more humanistic elements integral to community building. This paper studies this movement from behaviorism to humanism in nursing education and assumes its foundations in the tenets of critical social theory. The roots of critical social theory are examined, followed by an overview of the changes occurring within nursing education today.