The Self-Discovery Process Comes First

The first couple of carative factors require nurses to define their own morals and ethics
upon which they operate, encouraging nurses to develop a set of altruistic values they
can fall back on. Watson believes nurses should bring their own faith and hope for the
future to the table when interacting with patients. To arrive at these hallmarks, nurses
must be in tune with their own beliefs and cultivate a sense of their own feelings so they
can then be empathetic to their patients’ feelings. This process helps nurses to view their
patients as whole human beings, not just sick bodies.

Watson's Carative Factors in Action

The rest of the carative factors drive the practice of nursing, inviting professional nurses
to develop trusting relationships with patients, which, in turn, encourages patients to
share negative and positive feelings with their nurses. Nurses find this model
complements the medical models of health care that reduce patients to atoms and cells.
Watson and her followers believe that by incorporating the carative with the curative,
society as a whole will be healthier and patients will be able to get well or die with dignity.
Acceptance, support, problem-solving, teaching and learning, protection and gratification
are not just words incorporated in Watson’s theories of care; they are mandates.