Distinguished Professor of Nursing Dr. Jean Watson

Distinguished Professor of Nursing Dr. Jean Watson

Margaret Jean Harman Watson, also widely known as Dr. Jean Watson is a famous, successful, influential and inspiring nurse. I researched through Watson's background; her family, her professions, her successes and her driving force. All of the information that I have gathered on Dr. Jean Watson greatly inspired to dedicate myself further into the nursing field.

Dr. Jean Watson was born in the 1940s in the small town of Welch, West Virginia, near the Appalachian Mountains. As the youngest of eight children, Watson was raised in a family-community environment. Watson attended Lewis Gale School of Nursing in Roanoke, Virginia and in 1961 she earned her Registered Nursing (R.N.) diploma. After graduation Watson married her husband Douglas and moved to his native state, Colorado. After thirty-seven years of marriage, Watson's "physical and spiritual partner and best friend" (Alligood and Tomey 91) Douglas, died. Throughout Watson's marriage, she conceived two daughters, Jennifer, born in 1963, and Julie born four years after. Both of her daughters grew and started their own family and granted Watson five grandchildren. Dr. Jean Watson has earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Nursing and Psychiatric Mental-health Nursing and her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Educational Psychology and Counseling. Dr. Jean Watson is Distinguished Professor of Nursing of the University of Colorado Denver and Anschutz Medical Center Campus.

According to the University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing website "Clinical nurses and academic programs throughout the world use her published works on the philosophy and theory of human caring and the art and science of caring in nursing." In 1975-1979 Dr. Jean Watson developed the Theory of Human Caring. Affirmed by Dr. Watson in the book Nursing Theories and Nursing Practice, the critical principles of her theory are the carative factors, the transpersonal caring relationship and the caring moment. According to Alligood and Tomey in their book Nursing Theorists and Their Work, Watson's influence from "distinguished lectureship" and "scholarly meetings" spread throughout the United States, and in numerous foreign countries (pp 93). Watson's publications such as Nursing: Human science and human care, Postmodern nursing and beyond, and Assessing and measuring caring in nursing and health sciences has been translated into Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, Chinese, Korean, German, Norwegian, and Danish. Dr. Jean Watson is also a recipient of numerous national and international honors such as the international Kellogg Fellowship in Australia, a Fulbright Research Award in Sweden and also honorary doctoral degrees such as the International Honorary Doctorate of Science in England and Honorart Doctorate in West Virginia.

The main factors that contributed to Dr. Watson's career success was her husband, Douglas and a life changing accident. A huge contributor to Dr. Jean Watson's career success was her husband Douglas, who supported, consoled, encouraged, and critiqued her ideas. Even after his death, in March