Jean Watson,
PhD, RN, HNC, FAAN
Author of Caring Science as Sacred Science
Jean Watson has, in some ways, done it all! From being inspired while growing up in West Virginia and Virginia, to taking on the altruistic mission of teaching, research and practice of human caring, to being author of leading books on caring, to publishing her first book with F.A. Davis, Dr. Watson has gained international prominence for her work as a leading expert of caring science.
Dr. Watson arrived at the University Of Colorado School Of Nursing in 1973, as a new faculty member, and has been there ever since. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing and psychiatric-mental health nursing, and holds her PhD in educational psychology and counseling. As a nurse, she has always been directly or indirectly clinically involved, practicing in Med-Surg, OBGYN, and Psychiatric and Mental Health nursing as well as having practiced as a clinical nurse therapist in both institutional and private community group practices.
Dr. Jean Watson is Distinguished Professor of Nursing and holds an endowed Chair in Caring Science at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She is founder of the original Center for Human Caring in Colorado and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She previously served as Dean of Nursing at the University Health Sciences Center and is a past president of the National League for Nursing.
She is a widely published author and recipient of several awards and honors, including an international Kellogg Fellowship in Australia, a Fulbright Research Award in Sweden and six Honorary Doctoral Degrees, including three International Honorary Doctorates (Sweden, United Kingdom, and Canada).
Her first book, Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring was published by Little Brown in 1979 (later re-published by the University of Colorado Press in 1985). She is also author or co-author or editor of several more books on theory and philosophy, and practice of caring, as well as numerous scholarly journal publications. (See for example, Nursing: Human Science and Human Care; Toward a Caring Curriculum; Postmodern Nursing and Beyond, as other major caring theory works. Visit http://www.uchsc.edu/nursing/caring for more information).
More recently, while she was reviewing a manuscript for F.A. Davis's Nursing Publisher Joanne DaCunha, the idea evolved to do a book which takes her work to a new level: Caring Science as Sacred Science. Just published (August 2004), the book presents Watson's expanded view of the emerging field of caring science and provides a framework that focuses on the philosophical, theoretical, ethical, and core knowledge of caring. (For more information on and to order a copy of Caring Science as Sacred Science, click here.)
Dr. Watson usually goes to a remote location in Mexico to immerse herself in her writing. Her approach is not mainstream in terms of academe -- she has always been ahead of the times as a nursing visionary. Caring Science as Sacred Science achieves new levels in terms of its moral dimension and broad ethical context, seeking to restore metaphysical dimensions to a model of science. It addresses the contemporary changes in science -- she asserts, "Once you put caring into your science context/framework, you cannot adhere to conventional views of biomedical science".
Jean Watson has been Distinguished Lecturer and Endowed Lecturer at universities throughout the United States and many foreign countries. Her international nursing experiences have taken her around the globe several times.
Dr. Watson teaches graduate students and sponsors visiting scholars from around the world. She continues to engage in international speaking and consulting, including implementing caring curricula in nursing educational programs, and working clinically with staff nurses and administrators to transform nursing practice. Some of these clinical endeavors include working with hospitals seeking magnet hospital recognition, whereby hospitals can apply to be recognized nationally for leadership in transforming nursing practice through caring guided practice models.
You can learn more about Dr. Watson's Theories on Caring by visiting her website, http://www.uchsc.edu/nursing/caring, or email her directly at Jean.Watson@uchsc.edu. Click here: Caring Science as Sacred Science to order her book.
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