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Martha Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings

Brandon K. F. Ramm

School of Nursing, Idaho State University

NURS 6600/8808: Theoretical Foundations for Nursing Practice

Dr. Gina Clarkson

November 28, 2021

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Martha Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings

Martha Rogers, one of nursing’s most notable scientists, was born in Dallas, Texas on May 12, 1914

(Butcher & Malinski, 2010), a birthday interestingly, she shared with the famed founder of modern nursing,

Florence Nightingale, who was born almost 100 years earlier (Butcher & Malinski, 2010; Selanders, n.d.).

Rogers shared not only a birthday with Nightingale but also a similar impact on theoretical nursing, and an

emphasis on the meaning and importance of environment, and its centrality to nursing care (Meleis, 2018).

Rogers began developing her ideas for the Science of Unitary Human Beings in the 1950s and 1960s

and asserted that nursing is not simply a synthesis of all sciences, but a science in and of itself (Meleis, 2018).

Rogers’ theory grew out of her effort to answer fundamental questions about nursing science (Meleis, 2018).

Specifically, she sought to identify the focus of nursing, the nursing client, the phenomena of concern in

nursing, the knowledge that makes nursing a science, the relationship between a human being and an

environment, and the outcomes of people’s interactions with their environment (Meleis, 2018).

Rogers developed her theory from several different paradigms and schools of thought including

general systems theory, and von Bertalanffy’s definition of open systems (Meleis, 2018). Rogers’ theoretical

writings, which showcased philosophy, music, futurology, and physics, were influenced by her love of

classical music and extensive reading of science fiction (Meleis, 2018). Rogers was also influenced by Greek

philosophers and by modern writers of philosophy and theory including Burr and Northrop, Chardin, Palnyi,

and Lewin (Meleis, 2018). Some have even drawn connections between Rogers’ ideas and Buddhist principles

(Meleis, 2018).

Many of the concepts of Rogers’ theory are rooted in the basic premises of physics and

electromagnetic theory (Meleis, 2018). Cleverly, Rogers used the electrodynamic theory of life to link physics

and the life processes of nursing (Meleis, 2018). Rogers also used some ideas from evolution theory to

explain elements of her concept of nursing care, positing that human beings are always in the process of

becoming more and are not simply static beings (Meleis, 2018).
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Rogers’ theory consists of several very interesting concepts, assumptions, and propositions. For the

purposes of this paper, I will attempt to keep the description of these elements as simplified as possible. To

summarize, Rogers identified four fundamental postulates that form the basis of her theory (Butcher &

Malinski, 2010). These are: Energy fields, Openness, Pattern, and Pandimensionality (formerly referred to as

fourth dimensionality) (Butcher & Malinski, 2010).

In Rogers’ conceptualization, energy fields refer to both the patient, and to the environment, and are

the fundamental unit of the living and non-living (Butcher & Malinski, 2010; Meleis, 2018). Additionally,

according to Rogers, energy fields are dynamic, infinite, and continuously moving (Butcher & Malinski, 2010;

Meleis, 2018). They are open, and in constant interaction and exchange of matter and energy with one

another (Butcher & Malinski, 2010; Meleis, 2018). Importantly, Rogers asserts that the two identified energy

fields, the unitary human field (which can consist of a person, group, family, or community), and the unitary

environmental field, are distinct but not separate (Butcher & Malinski, 2010; Meleis, 2018). The fields are also

irreducible and cannot be broken down into component parts or subsystems (Butcher & Malinski, 2010;

Meleis, 2018). Rogers conceptualizes that these fields interact through wave patterns that manifest in

increasing order (negentropy), from lower to higher frequency, in a homeodynamic relationship (Butcher &

Malinski, 2010; Meleis, 2018). Homeodynamics is described further by three principles: Resonancy, helicy,

and integrality, and explain the nature and process of change in the human–environmental field (Butcher &

Malinski, 2010; Meleis, 2018). Finally, Rogers describes the fields as pandimensional, reflecting the unitary

nature of the fields, and implying that they transcend space and time, and can encompass ideas of the

metaphysical and higher consciousness states that may be associated with meditation, and other experiences

of hyperawareness (Butcher & Malinski, 2010).

In addition, Rogers holds forth the following assumptions that inform and support her theory (Meleis, 2018):

1) Nursing care is concerned with the time-irreversible life process of a human being.

2) The focus of nursing science is the unitary human being, their wholeness, and their continuous and

inseparable relationship with the environment.

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3) Organized patterns exist in the wholeness of the unitary human being, but they do not necessarily

correlate to causality.

4) Conceptual systems are the foundation of theories and are tested in real life with feedback to

theories. This cycle is continuous, open, and can change based on new knowledge.

5) Unitary human beings are capable of abstraction, imagery, language, thought, sensation, and

emotion.

6) Human behavior is endowed with reason, and feelings.

7) Human behavior contains probabilistic and non-repeating elements that cannot be predicted by

linear models.

8) Nursing is humanistic and not mechanistic.

9) Generalization depends on study of the whole, and not any of the parts in isolation.

10) Unitary human beings can join in the process of change deliberately and with probability.

11) The human and environmental fields coexist with the universe.

Review of the Theory

The Science of Unitary Human Beings has been widely used in past literature. It has been applied

directly to nursing questions and phenomena of interest. For example, Rogers’ theory has been successfully

applied to integrative and complementary therapies that are typically considered to be alternative

interventions, including traditional healing practices, or indigenous, or holistic therapies such as meditation

and guided imagery (Meleis, 2018).

The theory has also inspired the formation of other grand theories and mid-range theories,

interventions, and modalities. For example, Rogers’ theory inspired and influenced both Parse, and Newman

in the formation of their grand theories, Human Becoming, and Health as Expanding Consciousness

respectively (Butcher & Malinski, 2010; Meleis, 2018). In another example, Dolores Krieger used Rogers’

concepts of continuous exchanges between individuals and their environment to develop “healing touch,” or

“therapeutic touch” (Meleis, 2018). Incidentally, extensive literature on this subject shows that participants
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receiving touch therapy experience less stress and are more relaxed as evidenced by several objective, and

physiologic measures (Meleis, 2018).

A basic literature review reveals the scope and range of Rogers’ influence on nursing, and nursing

research. My meta database search of the keywords “Science of Unitary Human Beings,” returned 1,211

results. 861 of these results were from academic journals, 125 from dissertations/theses, 123 from

magazines, and the rest from books, ebooks, and a few other minor sources.

The search results encompassed a large array of subjects in the literature from nursing theory to

therapeutic touch, to nursing science, to spirituality, and holistic health, among many other subjects. The

majority of articles discovered were in English, but were also found in Chinese, German, Spanish, Portuguese,

Italian, and Japanese. Interestingly, most articles were clustered geographically in the U.S. and Europe but

were also found in other regions in limited numbers.

Adding the key word “policies” to this search, and limiting the results to scholarly, or peer-reviewed

journals, revealed 31 articles ranging from discussions about healthcare to governmental policy. A similar

search including “culture or cultural or ethnicity or identity or values,” revealed a count of 254 scholarly

articles. Incorporating the search term “academics” resulted in 707 results. Lastly, introducing the term

“healthcare” into the search revealed 223 scholarly, or peer-reviewed, articles.

Evaluation of the Theory

Rogers’ theory is notably broad with the ability to encompass virtually all nursing phenomena

(Meleis, 2018). However, it has been criticized as being too broad, overly generalized, abstract, ambiguous,

and conceptual (Meleis, 2018). In fact, some experts have observed that due to its abstract nature, nurses

have had difficulty in adopting, or testing, the theory, or applying it to practice (Meleis, 2018). This is because

the concepts of the theory do not readily lend themselves to the practice arena, or to the measurable

variables of research (Meleis, 2018).

A fundamental component of Rogers’ theory, the concept of energy, is one example of this. While

Rogers is regarded as avant-garde for her introduction of this theoretical language, its lack of definition and
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clarity makes it difficult to understand or apply to practice – in part because it is not quantifiable or

measurable (Meleis, 2018). The level of abstraction of the theory makes it difficult to operationalize because

the concepts are limited in their operational referents (Meleis, 2018). Indeed, one could say that the

concepts of the theory are complex and even primitive with unclear boundaries, and unclear relationships

(Meleis, 2018). These are some of the very real reasons for slow adoption of the theory among all but Rogers’

most enthusiastic supporters (Meleis, 2018).

However, in evaluating Rogers’ theory it is important to understand that she herself did not actually

identify it as a nursing theory at all, but rather as a conceptual model which she suggested could be used to

stimulate the development of nursing theories (Meleis, 2018). This may help to explain why Rogers did not

seek to narrow the scope of her ideas and concepts or offer ideas to help systematically operationalize her

concepts for use in practice and research (Meleis, 2018).

Appraisal of the Theory

As mentioned above, although Rogers’ theory articulates its central phenomena it does not clearly

define important concepts such as the patterns of human being—environment interactions or manifestations

of energy fields (Meleis, 2018). In addition, Rogers’ complex theory is sometimes redundant with overlap

between concepts that presents a challenge to operationalization (Meleis, 2018). This sort of ambiguity

makes the phenomena of Rogers’ theory difficult to quantify and measure, posing a problem for researchers

and clinicians (Meleis, 2018). In short, the theory is criticized as being far too abstract, with highly

theoretically defined concepts, that make it challenging to apply to research or practice.

This has led to some arguable failures of application of the theory such as an attempted use of the

theory by Gill and Atwood as a means of studying wound healing in animals (Meleis, 2018). Unfortunately,

this led to a reasonable criticism of the pair for an inappropriate use of the theory in animal studies, as well

as oversimplification of theory concepts and misunderstanding of causal relationships (Meleis, 2018). Indeed,

due to the theory’s limitations there are major gaps in uniform methodology for applying the Science of

Unitary Human Beings to research (Meleis, 2018).

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Critique of the Theory

As mentioned above Rogers considered the Science of Unitary Human Beings to be a conceptual

model, and not necessarily a theory of nursing. Therefore, if the nursing community desires to optimize use

of the model as a theory, it may be valuable to consider making some adjustments and refinements to the

concepts of the model. This would help to make the model more user-friendly, reduce its limitations, and

improve its adoption as a theory (Meleis, 2018). To do this a new generation of nursing theorists are needed

to further analyze, define, critique, and extend the concepts of the theory (Meleis, 2018) to clarify it, and

make it more universally and uniformly applicable to nursing practice and research.

In this effort, some areas that might need further clarification and definition are the concepts of

patterning, frequencies, and waves, and their relationships to one another. Defining these concepts more

clearly will help nurses to know how to identify, classify, and recognize these phenomena. For example,

according to Rogers’ theory nurse-patient interactions are conceptualized as interactions of energy fields that

evolve into repatterning and reorganizing waves that tend toward differentiation and diversity (Meleis,

2018). In the theory, repatterning is when a new pattern evolves from a previous pattern (Meleis, 2018).

However, without a standardized definition of these concepts Rogers’ theory becomes too subjective and

potentially diluted by misunderstanding and misapplication.

General Application of the Theory

The specific situation in research and practice for which I will be using this theory is in the context of

mental health care. More specifically, I am interested to know if a consistently applied meditation practice

can reduce craving for patients experiencing opioid use disorder. My proposed formal research question is:

For patients with opioid use disorder in a recovery group, does the implementation of a 10-minute

meditation exercise, applied twice daily, decrease opioid cravings when used for 6 months following inpatient

treatment, compared to those who do not implement meditation?

I have selected this particular theory because of its specific applicability to my research question, and

because of the precedent in the literature of its direct application to patients with substance use disorder. In
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addition, the theory is a broad conceptualized perspective that provides nurses with a nontraditional, even

radical, and value-free, destigmating way to view patients and their environment (Butcher & Malinski, 2010;

Compton, 1989). The Science of Unitary Human Beings allows the healthcare provider to see the patient not

just as an object of illness, or as being in a state of disease, but as experiencing an expected response to

increasing complexity and diverse wave patterns and frequencies within environmental fields (Meleis, 2018).

To analyze the theory, I will use the 7-step approach from Nixon et al. (2017) from the article,

“Seven-Step Framework for Critical Analysis and Its Application in the Field of Physical Therapy,” as follows:

Name the Specific Aspect of Practice Being Analyzed

The specific aspect being analyzed in this case is Martha Rogers’ theory the Science of Unitary

Human Beings.

Identify the Intended Purposes of This Aspect of Practice

The intended purpose of the theory is “to promote symphonic interaction between man and

environment, to strengthen the conference and integrity of the human field, and to direct and redirect

patterning of the human and environment fields for realization of maximum health potentials” (Meleis, 2018,

p. 303).

Uncover the Assumptions That Support These Intended Purposes

Specific assumptions that support the intended purpose of the theory might include the concept that

humans do not exist in states of wellness, or illness, but on a continuum of interconnected energy fields. The

identified fields are interactive and produce wave patterns, and frequencies and constantly exchange matter

and energy. These exchanges cause the energy fields to evolve toward complexity and negentropy that

supports optimization of the patient’s energy field.

Identify Who Benefits

When effectively applied patients, healthcare providers, families, and communities benefit from the

application of the Science of Unitary Human Beings.

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Identify Who Is Disadvantaged

The greatest risk for causing disadvantage is from misunderstanding, ineffective, or lack of

application of Rogers’ theory. If the theory is not applied, or is misapplied all parties in question are

disadvantaged. However, when applied effectively, all involved stand to benefit.

Link These Specific Ideas to Society-Level Patterns

There is a risk of disadvantage, as noted above, due to misunderstanding or misapplication of the

theory. One of the potential sources of this disadvantage might be due to main-stream society’s hesitancy to

embrace what might appear to be associated with the paranormal, or of a fringe-belief system. Rogers’

theory, with its description of energies, energy fields, waves, patterns, and frequencies, could easily be

mistaken for something of this nature without careful consideration and true recognition of the value of her

ideas. Add to this Rogers’ openness to concepts of fields transcending space and time, of the Infinite, and a

sense of cosmic spirituality and this mischaracterization becomes even more probable. However, If the

theory is misunderstood in this way it may be too easily dismissed, preventing the realization of its rich

potential for good, and for bonafide healing.

Conceive of Alternatives That Mitigate Actual or Potential Harms

To help prevent this potential harm clear and concise correlates and definitions may be required so

that the theory is more generally decipherable and concrete. This would help to avoid a misunderstanding of

the intention and essence of Rogers’ theory, and thus prevent misapplication of its concepts.

Summary and Practical Application

To explain the actual application of Rogers’ theory to my specific research project, first recall the

proposed research question: For patients with opioid use disorder in a recovery group, does the

implementation of a 10-minute meditation exercise, applied twice daily, decrease opioid cravings when used

for 6 months following inpatient treatment, compared to those who do not implement meditation?
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The proposition of this research is the hypothesis that meditation practice can reduce the intensity,

duration, and frequency of craving for patients experiencing opioid use disorder. Testing this proposition

simply requires conducting the research as dictated by the research question.

The independent variable of this research is use or nonuse of meditation as an intervention, and the

dependent variable is the outcome of use or nonuse of the intervention. To test the variables, quite simply, I

would select a large, heterogeneous sample of subjects and randomly separate them into two groups. The

non-meditators would be the control group, and the meditators, the experimental group. To prevent

participation bias, it might be important for both groups to be unaware of each other, and unaware of the

hypothesis or proposition of the research. Testing the independent variable would require uniform

application of the intervention among all subjects in the experimental group, and subsequently across many

similar experimental groups. Testing the dependent variable would require conducting the experiment in

many similarly heterogenous, randomized groups, and arriving at the same, or similar result in a statistically

significant way.

Testing the theory might be more of a complex challenge. To test the theory in the context of the

research question I would need to assign elements of the theory as correlates and referents to elements of

the project, and then seek to interpret the results using Rogers’ theoretical concepts. For example, Rogers’

theory identifies the patient as an energy field and the environment of the patient as another energy field. It

also identifies the healthcare provider as an energy field. These energy fields are unified and inseparable, and

constantly exchanging energy and matter. In the context of the theory, applying the intervention of

meditation would be seen as an energy exchange between fields that travels in a wave, and increases in

frequency and order, with the patient’s energy field as the focal point. If the intervention is appropriate and

effective, according to the theory, it would cause a conceptual repatterning of the energy fields involved

increasing order and frequency in the patient’s energy field (or a decrease in craving) and causing an equal

and inverse change in the energy field of the environment. According to the theory the patient and the
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environment are inseparable, and continuous, or unitary, implying that a change in one field produces an

equal and opposite change in the other.

Lastly, to further apply the theory to the research situation in question I would first conduct a

thorough literature review to understand how others have previously applied the theory to my question, and

to decide if further research is desirable. Undoubtedly, due to the broad and ambiguous nature of the theory,

researchers may have varying perspectives, and interpretations of results. It would be important to arrive at

a standardized perspective, or consensus to help reduce theoretical noise, and outliers, in interpretation of

results. To help establish and define the parameters, definitions, and outcomes it would be important to

discuss and define the theory for the purposes of my specific case while trying to unify my application of the

theory with the mainstream, or generally accepted views of the Science of Unitary Human Beings.
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References

Butcher, H. K. & Malinski, V. M. (2010). Marth E. Rogers’ science of unitary human beings. In Parker, M. E., &

Smith, M. C. Nursing theories & nursing practice (3rd ed., pp. 253-276). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co.

Compton, M. A. (1989). A Rogerian view of drug abuse: Implications for nursing. Nursing Science Quarterly,

2(2), 98–105.

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.873.577&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Meleis, A.I., (2018) Theoretical nursing: Development and progress (6th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Nixon, S. A., Yeung, E., Shaw, J. A., Kuper, A., & Gibson, B. E. (2017). Seven-Step framework for critical analysis

and its application in the field of physical therapy. Physical Therapy, 97(2), 249–257.

https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20160149

Selanders, L. (n.d.). Florence Nightingale. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 26, 2021, from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Florence-Nightingale