Reflection Journal: Five C’s of Caring

Kendall Lillie

8/25/17

Caring is a critical part of any health-care experience for both the patient and the

provider. However, the idea of caring is more complex than people may perceive. A popular

blueprint on the act of caring was developed by Sister Simone Roach. She created the five C’s of

caring in order to answer the question “What is a nurse doing when he or she is caring?” The

five C’s include compassion, competence, confidence, conscience, and commitment. Other

theories coincide with Sister Roach’s model in many ways often adding their own perspectives.

The idea that there is more to caring beneath the surface allows a nurse to truly connect and

heal his or her patient.

The first C in Sister Roach’s philosophy is compassion. She describes this concept as “a

way of living born out of an awareness of one’s relationship to all living creatures and a quality

of presence which allows one to share with and make room for the other” (Roach, 1992).

Compassion allows us to partake in emotional states such as joy and sorrow with other

individuals. Watson’s carative factors that correspond with Sister Roach’s description of

compassion include “promoting and expressing positive and negative feelings” and “forming a

human-altruistic value system”. These factors allow the caretaker to connect with the patient

and support them.

The second C of Sister Roach’s article explains competence which is “the state of having

the knowledge, judgment, skills, energy, experience and motivation required to respond

adequately to the demands of one’s professional responsibilities” (Roach, 1992). Sister Roach
believed that an individual also needs intellectual and technical skills in order to gain entrance

into the field of nursing. Watson encourages healthcare personnel to “apply the nursing

process in systemic, scientific problem-solving decision making in providing patient-centered

care” (Potter, Perry, Stockert, Hall, 2017).

The third C of caring is confidence. Sister Roach states, “Caring confidence fosters trust

without dependency; communicates truth without violence; and creates a relationship of

respect without paternalism or without engendering a response born out of fear or

powerlessness” (Roach, 1992). This quality allows the patient and the provider to develop a

trusting relationship. Part of Swanson’s theory is “striving to understand an event as it has

meaning in the life of the other.” This involves “avoiding assumptions, assessing thoroughly and

seeking clues to clarify the event” (Potter, Perry, Stockert, Hall, 2017).

Sister Roach’s fourth C of caring is conscience. It can be defined as “a compass directing

one’s behavior according to the moral fitness of things” (Roach, 1992). Watson’s carative

factors of instilling faith-hope and allowing for existential-phenomenological-spiritual forces

agree with Sister Roach’s idea of conscience. These factors insist on helping the patient find

their direction to healing while also allowing you to better understand your purpose.

The last C of Sister Roach’s blueprint is commitment which is defined as “a complex

affective response characterized by a convergence between one’s desire and one’s obligations,

and by a deliberate choice to act in accordance with them” (Roach, 1992). Swanson’s theories

of enabling and maintaining belief coincide with Sister Roach’s idea that commitment is an

investment in your patient.

 Watson and Swanson gave many great examples of caring but it was often difficult to

put them into just one category of Sister Roach’s five C’s. Although these theories break up

caring into different components, they often overlap one another meaning the process will not

work if one of them is missing. It is important to remember the five C’s of caring and how they

relate to the nursing profession.

 References

Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Hall, A., & Stockert, P. A. (2017). Fundamentals of nursing. St.

Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.

Roach, M.S. (1992). The human act of caring: A blueprint for the health professions.

Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Hospital Association Press.