Katharine Kolcaba's Theory of Comfort
Kelly Ferreira
Summer, 2004.
In the early part of the 20th century, comfort was the central goal of nursing and medicine. Comfort was the nurse's first consideration. A "good nurse" made patients comfortable. In the early 1900's, textbooks emphasized the role of a health care provider in assuring emotional and physical comfort and in adjusting the patient's environment. For example, in 1926, Harmer advocated that nursing care be concerned with providing an atmosphere of comfort.
In the 1980's, a modern inquiry of comfort began. Comfort activities were observed. Meanings of comfort were explored. Comfort was conceptualized as multidimensional (emotional, physical, spiritual). Nurses provided comfort through environmental interventions.
It was in this decade that Kolcaba began to develop a theory of comfort when she was a graduate student at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. She is currently a nursing......
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Approximate Word Count: 4407
Approximate Pages: 17 (260 words per double-spaced page) |