The Meaning of Holism in Nursing: Historical Shifts in Holistic Nursing Ideas

Abstract

Throughout the history of nursing, holistic ideas can be identified that reflect nursing's ambivalence towards changes in health care and in ideas about illness during the 19th and 20th century. The relationship between historical context and the meaning of holism in nursing is described using historical as well as conceptual analyses. Three important periods are discussed: holistic public health nursing in the beginning of the century, a shift towards holistic hospital nursing in the middle of the century, and a modern holistic health nursing model that emerged in the 1960s. Each period reflects a different perspective on nursing's struggle to gain status as a profession, its complicated relationship with medicine, and its difficulty in maintaining the tradition of care and compassion within an industrialized society that becomes more individualized and fragmented.

Cornerstones of Public Health Nursing

“…Both Florence Nightingale and Lillian Wald applied holistic approaches in their nursing practice. Nightingale found that natural healing for injured soldiers was enhanced by improving the orderliness, cleanliness, and ventilation of their environment as well as by providing an adequate diet (Boschma, 1994). Wald's vision for the Henry Street Settlement in the late 1800s included deliberate attention to housing, hygiene, and the social life of families in the neighborhood (Allen, 1991;Boschma, 1994).…”

“…Nightingale found that natural healing for injured soldiers was enhanced by improving the orderliness, cleanliness, and ventilation of their environment as well as by providing an adequate diet (Boschma, 1994). Wald's vision for the Henry Street Settlement in the late 1800s included deliberate attention to housing, hygiene, and the social life of families in the neighborhood (Allen, 1991;Boschma, 1994). In the 1920s and 1930s, visiting nurses recognized the connection between healthy communities and healthy families as they worked to improve social and environmental conditions for the families and schools they visited (Buhler-Wilkerson, 1985).…”

Moving Culture beyond Ethnicity: Examining Dying in Hospital through a Cultural Lens

“…Many nursing philosophies have core concepts of caring, a family focus, the meaning of an illness experience and holism (45-51). Holism, in particular, contrasts with the idea of biological reductionism and reflects a broad dissatisfaction with the objectifying aspects of the dominant medical model (44,47).…”

Qigong bedrer livskvalitet

“…Holismebegrepet brukes mye i sykepleie, men defineres på en rekke ulike måter (25). Begrepet holistisk dreier seg om innbyrdes slektskap med kropp, sjel og ånd i et stadig forandrende miljø (26 betrakte pasienten ut fra kropp, sinn og ånd og personens helhetlige relasjon til miljøet (27,28). Holismebegrepet i teoriene til Rogers (8) og TKM ble funnet å vaere tilstrekkelig forenelige, og det ble konkludert at effekten av qigong kunne måles i form av livskvalitet, som ivaretar en helhetlig forståelse av mennesket (7).…”