Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AND DEFINITIONS
•The belief in the existence of “vital
force” or energy, the source of all life,
among living organisms started since
ancient times. From ancient Hindus’
“prana” and Chinese’s “qi” to
Mesmer’s “animal magnetism” and
Reichenbach’s “odic field”, this belief
in the “vital force” or energy had been
the foundation for alternative, holistic
healing that are now widely practiced
within the nursing community (Rosa
1994, Schieber 1997, Ulett 1997, Rosa
1998, Pryjmachuk 1998, as cited by
Stenger, 1999).
What is Energy?
From a traditional view, energy is the capacity to do
work while absence of it equates disability or illness. In
contrast, the concept of energy from a unitary perspective
considers energy as a phenomenon that is inherently dynamic
and is subjected to change. It considers disease or illness as
part of human potential actualization and death as another
manifestation of energy instead of the end or the opposite of
life (Todaro-Franceschi, 1999).
Martha Rogers sees energy
from a unitary perspective and
proposed two energy fields that
are the fundamental unit of the
living and inanimate.
ENERGY FIELDS
Martha Rogers sees a person and his/her environment
as energy fields instead of as elements that possess the
energy field. These energy fields are called the Human Energy
Field (HEF) and the environmental field. According to her, the
HEF is an "irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field
identified by pattern and manifesting characteristics that are
specific to the whole and which cannot be predicted from
knowledge of the parts" (1991). Her definition of HEF identifies
one of the important concepts that she proposed – the
wholeness of the human being. According to her, human being
is regarded as a unified whole which is more than and different
from the sum of the parts.
OPENNESS
One of the critical characteristics of the
energy fields are its openness. The HEF and
the environmental field continuously and
completely exchanges information. Human
beings are inseparable from the
environment. Hence, the two fields are
integral with one another.
PANDIMENSIONALITY
Pandimensionality describes "a nonlinear
domain without spatial or temporal
attributes" (Rogers as cited by Marrimer-
Tomey, 1994), an "infinite domain without
limit" (Rogers as cited by Meleis, 1991)
PATTERN
Every individual or field has its own unique
characteristic or pattern integral with its
own, unique environmental field. According
to Martha Rogers, pattern is perceived as a
single wave that gives identity to the field.
In caring for different individuals or groups,
one must consider the uniqueness of each
in order to identify behaviours normal to
him or her.
The Principles of Homeodynamics
"postulate a way of perceiving unitary man"
(Rogers as cited by Marrimer-Tomey, 1994) and
serves as "fundamental guides to the practice
of nursing" ( Rogers , 1990).
PRINCIPLE OF INTEGRALITY
PRINCIPLE OF RESONANCY
This principle asserts that human and
environmental fields are identified by wave
patterns that manifest continuous change from
lower to higher frequencies.
THEORETICAL
ASSUMPTIONS
PERSON
• In the Science of Unitary Human Beings, the person and
environment are the central focus of nursing. A person is a
unitary, pandimensional and evolving energy field
operating as an open system with infinite potentials
defined by patterns perceived through manifestations as a
single wave. Furthermore, the principle of integrality
asserts that a person is in continuous mutual process with
the energy field that is the environment.