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Thy Womb: A Caring Provider

Fuentebella, Jemina E.

San Beda University College of Nursing

NCM 100: Theoretical Foundations in Nursing

Rudolf Cymorr Kirby P. Martinez, PhD, RN

October 5, 2020
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Thy Womb: A Caring Provider

In the film “Thy Womb”, it is evident that there are scenes where the problems are very common
in our society, which revolves around families, child birth, and social issues. With these situations, nurses
have always tried to provide health and care for these people in need as much as possible. The needs and
problems do not only involve medications, but there are many factors that can be provided for the person.
The common problems in the movie were about the common injury in the body when Bangas-An (Bembol
Roco) got shot, psychological and physical pain of giving birth where Shaleha (Nora Aunor) assists the
mother who’s struggling to release the baby, psychological effects of infertility which is how Shaleha cope
up the fact that she cannot bear a child, as well as from terrorist attacks in which she and her husband
had experienced, and a man’s need to have a child. Shaleha is a nurse and a midwife in their village.
However, some of Shaleha’s way to solve these health problems requires a sacrifice from herself, which
isn’t much ethical to what a modern nurse would do. But to connect what she’s done using the Need-
based theories, System-based theories, and Caring-based theories, the thought of what she did for the
people is similar to what common nurses provide, although nurses are more aware of the reasons behind
these actions that is still part of the principles of nursing.

As stated by Toney (2002), the Supplementary process in Virginia Henderson’s Need-based theory
is when a nurse helps the patient by assisting for them to do their task properly. It was applied as Shaleha
had to become a helper to treat his mild wound and help him with his needs for him to move around
better. Henderson (1991) mentioned about the 14 components of nursing care and the care like how
Shaleha helps her husband in keeping the body clean, selecting suitable clothes, and sleep and rest falls
under Henderson’s Fourteen Components of Nursing Care.

There are two System-based theories that were observed for people’s solutions to the mental
effects of terrorist attacks and Shaleha’s solution about her husband who’s desperate to have a child.
Myra Levine’s system based-theory was evident with how people adapt easily with their fear from
terrorist attacks. Usually it could be a traumatic experience at it could cost their life, but it is seen that the
people, including Shaleha and Bangas-an have easily adapted from the attacks, which is due to the
multiple experiences from the past, which falls under Levine’s historicity adaptive response. Levine (1991)
said that everyone has a unique pattern of response to occurring situations which helps their well-being,
and that one of it is Historicity, which is to adapt from problems that the person had already encounter
from before. The attacks are not new to them as it occurs from time to time, which is why the
psychological factor of the people living in the area. According to Levine (1973), Conservation is to keep
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everything in place by balancing one’s energy and unique demands that is often needed in one’s reality,
which are the 4 conservation principles. By adapting, it applies Levine’s the conservation principles which
is the conservation of energy (to maintain their psychological energy), structural integrity (avoiding their
bodies to break down from the problem which is to avoid injuries), personal integrity (self-aware of how
they may avoid the attacks with determination), and social integrity (protecting their family members and
loved ones). With Shaleha’s solution to Bangas-An’s stress about not having a child, she found an
alternative for him to have one, which is to let him marry another woman. Callista Roy’s system-based
theory is evident here since Roy (1984) stated that any factor that triggers how a person responds is a
stimulus, and that it can come from internal or external environment, and the focus of her theory is to
change the stimulus to change the person’s response. She had turned the situation around that stresses
Bangas-An’s psychological aspect as his role-function as a father was in question since he does not have a
child, which may lead to depression since his role function in the society is important for him. As said by
Hill and Roberts (1981), The role function mode is a social mode that focuses on a person’s role in the
society. It defines the expectations on how a person behaves towards a person with a different role. Which
is also identified as social integrity, which is why Shaleha’s solution can help Banges-An’s cognator
subsystem, which is the mental coping mechanism, and as what Roy and Andrews (1991) mentioned,
Cognator is an important coping process that involves learning, judgement, processing of perpetual
thinking and information, and emotion. These four are the cognitive -emotive channels that helps the
person go through the problem mentally and emotionally.

When it comes to the pain of childbirth and Shaleha’s infertility, the Care-based theories were
identified in the movie. According to Orlando (1961), People will eventually seek nursing care when they
need help that can’t be done independently due to physical limitations and having a negative reaction
toward its environment due to experience which hinders them to communicate with others on what they
need. Orlando’s Care-based theory is about how nurses respond immediately to patients who faces
helplessness once the problem has been identified. The process in which the behavior is shown as the
woman is obviously in physical since she’s about to give birth, which already shows the problem that
needs to be solved. And for that reason, immediate action was given and help her release the baby while
keeping the woman’s mind in place, and with that, the need for help was give n. In Shaleha’s infertility,
one does not know how to accept this fact alone from the start, but eventually they will accept that this
problem will be there but it won’t bother them as much as it used to. As what Kolcaba (2003) said, comfort
needs arise from stressful situations that affects one’s healthcare when traditional support systems
cannot provide for the problem. These stressful situations may be physical, psychospiritual, socio cultural
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or environmental. With Kolcaba’s Care-based theory, comfort needs are always required to be provided
by those who need it. With how Shaleha reacts to this fact, it is shown that she is already in the
transcendence stage since she’s willing to be left by her husband in order for him to have a family with his
new wife and their child. The psychospiritual comfort that she needed to be able to accept that she is
infertile was provided. The pain is still there, but it’s not as painful as it was when she probably heard
about her infertility for the first time. As mentioned by Kolcaba and Kolcaba (1991), Transcendence is one
of the comfort types in which nurses help the patients go beyond their difficulties and accept it. I’ve
experienced the three comfort types whenever I lose someone that’s dear to me. I went mad, hurt,
confused, though with someone’s help, I was able to overcome the pain. It’s still there, but it hurts less.

There will be many hidden health problems that not all do not realize that these health problems
are hinderance for a better well-being, and solutions for these can come from different yet unique
methods. One must be versatile to come up with a solution that is still legal to do. For nurses, one’s
solution must be legal by the law and is still part of the nursing norms. Although what Shaleha in the movie
isn’t completely agreeable with the nursing principles, her solutions are legal in their area, especially that
their problems are often solved that way in their culture. What I cannot recommend is her though to
sacrifice oneself for another. Sacrificing one’s self to the point where your dignity was shamed (being left
by your husband for him to have a child is an example in the movie) isn’t what nursing is supposed to do
since sacrificing acts like a vocation, and that nursing is a profession. Another missing link that Shaleha
didn’t do is to apply any nursing knowledge in mind. It can be related, but she hasn’t thought of it. I’ve
made sacrifices for my close friends whenever they’re sick, which is to help them to catch up with their
academics, and it affects mine because I was so focused on helping them. Though I’ve given their need
because they cannot physically go to school, it’s still not considered as nursing care. Because I haven’t
thought of anything related to nursing to provide care for my friends. However, what is similar to Shaleha
and other modern nurses is that, they will provide when necessary, and that they do understand the
situation and the person who’s suffering. Hence, her actions and situations indirectly show how problems
in our society do happen, and how nurses try to provide health and care in the best possible way.
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References

Henderson, V. A. (1991). The nature of nursing: Reflections after 25 years. National League for Nursing
Press. 22–23.

Hill, B. J., & Roberts, C. S. (1981). Formal theory construction: An example of the process. In Roy C. &
Roberts, S.L. (Eds.), Theory construction in nursing: An adaptation model. Prentice-Hall.

Kolcaba, K. (2003). Comfort theory and practice: A holistic vision for health care. Springer.

Kolcaba, K., & Kolcaba, R. (1991). An analysis of the concept of comfort. Journal of Advanced Nursing. (16)
1301–1310.

Levine, M. E. (1973). Introduction to clinical nursing. F. A. Davis. (2).

Levine, M. E. (1991). The conservation principles: A model for health. In Schaefer, K. & Pond, J. (Eds.),
Levine’s Conservation Model: A framework for nursing practice. F. A. Davis. 1–11.

Orlando, I. J. (1961). The dynamic nurse-patient relationship: Function, process and principles of
professional nursing practice. Putnam.

Roy, C. (1984). Introduction to nursing: An adaptation model (2nd ed.). Prentice-Hall.

Roy, C., & Andrews, H. (1991). The Roy adaptation model: The definitive statement. Appleton & Lange.

Toney, A. M. (2002). Virginia Henderson: Definition of Nursing. In A. M. Tomey & M. R. Alligood (Eds.),
Nursing theorists and their work. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. (5) 98-111.