What Is Caring in Nursing?: Sorting Out Humanistic and Christian Perspectives.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Theology
• Philosophy of Science

Background:

• Historical perspectives link nursing to biblical principles and divine origins of care.
• Contemporary views emphasize humanistic and postmodern worldviews, locating the source of caring within individuals.
• A divergence exists between theological and secular understandings of nursing care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize literature on nursing care across humanistic, postmodern, and biblical/theological worldviews.
• To analyze the prevalence of different perspectives in nursing publications.
• To establish a foundation for a nursing theory grounded in a biblical worldview.

Main Methods:

• Integrative literature review methodology.
• Systematic synthesis of scholarly articles and non-research publications.
• Comparative analysis of worldviews presented in the literature.

Main Results:

• Humanistic perspectives dominate nursing literature, comprising 95% of research and 85% of non-research publications.
• Biblical and postmodern worldviews are significantly underrepresented in the reviewed literature.
• A substantial gap exists in theoretical frameworks for nursing care from a biblical perspective.

Conclusions:

• The current body of nursing literature predominantly reflects humanistic and postmodern philosophies.
• There is a need for theoretical development in nursing that aligns with a biblical worldview for Christian healthcare professionals.
• This review provides groundwork for an alternative middle-range theory of caring based on Christian principles.