194 Nursing Science Quarterly
24(3)
Newman (2008) has synthesized the tenets of her theory as: (a) Rather than being the opposite of illness, health includes patterns of disease and is an evolving unitary pattern
of the whole; (b) “consciousness is the informational capacity
of the whole and is revealed in the evolving pattern;” and, (c) “pattern identifies the human-environmental process and is characterized by meaning
” (p. 6). Newman sees meaning as almost synonymous with pattern. When nurses engage with people in dialogue focused on meaning, they hold no judg-
ment of good or bad, right or wrong. Nurses regard whatever arises in the evolving pattern in the lives of individuals, families, and communities with a nonjudgmental, authentic presence. This relational process reveals an opening for transformation.
Consistent with its central tenets, the theory of health as expanding consciousness evolved through Newman’s inter-
actions with the meaningful people and events in her life. The product and the process are one unified whole. The seeds for this theory were planted in Newman’s young life when she cared for her mother who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Newman and her mother learned that while their life was confined
by the disease, their lives were not defined
by it. Newman’s thinking and studies were influenced by nurse theorists Dorothy Johnson and Martha E. Rogers. Her work was also influenced by Itzhak Bentov’s elaboration of life as the expansion of consciousness, David Bohm’s the-
ory of the implicate order, Ilya Prigogine’s theory of dissi-
pative structures, and Arthur Young’s theory of the evolution of consciousness. Newman came to a clearer understanding of the nurse-client relationship through working with New Zealand nurse scholar, Merian Litchfield, who insisted that “the focus of pattern recognition should be the process
of the evolving pattern, rather than the pattern itself. The pro-
cess is
the content” (Newman, 2008, 9). This realization shifted the focus of nursing praxis with individuals and families.
In this issue, Marlaine Smith presents additional insights into the evolving nature of scholarly work by examining stud-
ies completed with Newman’s research-as-praxis method. Analyzing the findings of her integrative review of 32 health as expanding consciousness studies published through 2009, Smith outlines the strengths and limitations of this body of work and suggests directions for future scholarly work. One recommendation is to continue to explore the potential of health as expanding consciousness to transform nursing sci-
ence through application at the community level. Pierre-Louis and colleagues present their attempt to do just that through community-based collaborative action research that engaged their community in action planning with a spoken-word pre-
sentation of their analysis of findings. They used Newman’s research-as-praxis method to understand community patterns related to the health of African American women living with diabetes. Their article demonstrates that meaningful change arises from a focus on understanding patterns in local contexts.
Another important context for nursing praxis is nursing education. Gail Lindsay presents a text-based readers’ the-
atre that invites you to become her partner in a holistic inquiry as researcher, teacher, nurse, and family member. Lindsay creates space for your story, your journey, as you interact with hers. She presents health as expanding con-
sciousness in the educational context through relational inquiry, the beholding of people’s stories, and posing ques-
tions students will be able to answer as the ends-in-view
for their courses, rather than predetermined course objectives. These articles and others will take you deeper into your understanding of the science of nursing. Theories like that of Margaret A. Newman are a potent source of inspiration guiding future nursing practice toward advancing health for the global community.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this editorial.
Reference
Newman, M. A. (2008). Transforming presence: The difference that nursing makes
. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis.
