Bevis Theory

Bevis refers to caring as a life force, one of life's essential ingredients and possibly the most essential. She refers to caring as an art that requires theory, philosophy, and practice. In the article she defines caring as a feeling of dedication to another constructively and positively by increasing intimacy and mutual self-actualization, and that the purpose of caring is to facilitate that self-actualization. "Caring helps prevent disease and promote health." Bevis states "It is the rare person who can really care about others, about self, about things or events without the lifelong study of and commitment to caring." (Bevis)

Nurses can use this theory to improve their practice by using it everyday. If they truly have a caring life force it will not take practice, but will come naturally. Helping a patient reach a goal of self-actualization would be inevitable if caring where practiced by every nurse with every patient. "Demonstration of professional competence as displayed during patient monitoring activities was viewed by subjects as most characteristic of caring." (Wolf et al. 1994) When patients reported that they were not pleased with their hospital stay it is usually because of one isolated incident with one nurse and if affect their whole perception of their stay.

"In the past decade, nurse theorists have identified caring as a paradigm unique to nursing. Caring has been described as the "core" or "essence" of nursing. The nurse's educational experience professionalizes this caring through the acquisition of knowledge and skills." (Leininger MM) Many of the theorists viewed caring as not a set of identifiable behaviors or actions.

Factors that effect caring are the way one thinks about caring and the way one that cares behaves are