Personal knowing: evolving research and practice

Personal knowing is essential to the development of knowledge central to the practice of nursing. Personal knowing as a process of research within practice is conceptually developed through definition, components, attributes, and examples. Although personal knowing, i.e., discovery of self-and-other arrived at through reflection, synthesis of perceptions, and connecting with what is known, has been identified as a fundamental way of knowing for nursing (Carper, 1978), the process has not previously been systematically developed or tied in with the theoretical, syntactical, and practice structures of nursing. In this article, an increased emphasis on personal knowing within the research and practice domains of nursing is proposed, and implications and questions are raised regarding implementation.