nursing rested on a set of basic assumptions
Martha Rogers that described the life process in human
Credentials and backgrounds
 Martha Elizabeth Rogers, the eldest of four
 children of Bruce Taylor Rogers and Lucy
 Mulholland Keener Rogers.
 She was born on May 12, 1914, in Dallas,
 Texas.
 She began her college education (1931-
1933)
 studying at the University of Tennessee.
 Receiving her nursing diploma from
Knoxville
 General Hospital School of Nursing (1936).
 She obtained her BS degree from George
 Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee
 (1937).
 Rogers subsequently established the
Visiting
 Nurse Service of Phoenix, Arizona.
 For 21 years (1954-1975), she was
professor
 and head of the Division of Nursing at New
 York University.
 Rogers’ publications include three books
and
 more than 200 articles.
 Rogers received honorary doctorates from
 such renowned institutions as Duquesne
 University, University of San Diego, Iona
 College, Fairfield University, Emory
University,
 Adelphi University, Mercy College, and
 Washburn University of Topeka.
 Rogers was inducted posthumously into the
 American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.
 In 1988, colleagues and students joined her
in
 forming the Society of Rogerian Scholars
 (SRS) and immediately began to publish
 A verbal portrait of Rogers includes such
 descriptive terms as stimulating,
 challenging, controversial, idealistic,
 visionary, prophetic, philosophical,
academic, outspoken, humorous, blunt, and
ethical. • Rogers remains a widely
recognized scholar honored for her
contributions and leadership in nursing. •
Rogers died on March 13, 1994, at 79 years
of age. • (All information from this section is
taken from the Nursing Theorists and Their
Work 10th Edition Book)
Characteristics of life processes
• In 1970, Rogers’ conceptual model of
beings. Wholeness, openness,
unidirectionality, pattern and organization,
sentience, and thought characterized the life
process.
Major concepts and definitions
 Rogers postulates that human beings
are dynamic energy fields that are
integral with environmental fields.
• Both human and environmental fields
are identified by pattern and
characterized by a universe of open
systems.
Four building blocks for roger’s model
 Rogers postulated four building blocks
for her model: an energy field, a
universe of open systems, pattern,
and four dimensionality.
• In 1983, Rogers changed her wording
from that of unitary man to unitary
human being, to remove the concepts
of danger.
• In 1992, four-dimensionality evolved
into pan dimensionality.
Energy field
• An energy field constitutes the
fundamental unit of both the living
and the nonliving.
• Field is a unifying concept, and energy
signifies the dynamic nature of the
field.
• Energy fields are infinite and
pandimensional.
Identified two fields
• Two fields are identified: the human
field and the environmental field.
• “Specifically, human beings and
environment are energy fields”
• The unitary human being (human
field) is defined as an irreducible,
indivisible, pandimensional energy
field identified by pattern and
manifesting characteristics that are
specific to the whole and that cannot
be predicted from knowledge of the
parts.
• The environmental field is defined as
an irreducible, pandimensional energy
field identified by pattern and integral
with the human field.
 Universe of Open Systems MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS: HEALTH
• Energy fields are infinite, open, and • She uses the term passive health to
integral with one another. symbolize wellness and the absence of
• The human and environmental fields disease and major illness.
are in continuous process and are • Her promotion of positive health
open systems. connotes direction in helping people
Pattern with opportunities for rhythmic
Pattern identifies energy fields. consistency.
• It is the distinguishing characteristic • Health and illness are manifestations
of an energy field and is perceived as of pattern and are considered “to
a single wave. denote behaviors that are of high
• The nature of the pattern changes value and low value. Human Life
continuously and innovatively, and Process
these changes give identity to the • The phenomenon central to nursing’s
energy field. conceptual system is the human life
• Each human field pattern is unique process.
and is integral with the environmental • The life process has its own dynamic
field. and creative unity that is inseparable
• Manifestations emerge as a human from the environment and is
environmental mutual process. characterized by the whole.
• Pattern is an abstraction; it reveals MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS: ENVIRONMENT
itself through manifestation. • Rogers (1994), defines environment
A sense of self is a field manifestation, as “an irreducible, pandimensional
the nature of which is unique to each energy field identified by pattern and
individual manifesting characteristics different
Pandimensionality from those of the parts.
• Rogers defines pan dimensionality as • Each environmental field is specific to
a nonlinear domain without spatial or its given human field.
temporal attributes. • Both change continuously and
• Phillips (2010) notes: “essentially a creatively”.
space less and timeless reality”. • Environmental and human fields are
• The term pan dimensional provides for identified by wave patterns
an infinite domain without limit. manifesting continuous mutual change
• It best expresses the idea of a unitary •
whole. THEORITICAL ASSERTIONS
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS: NURSING • “The life process is homeodynamic”
• Nursing is a learned profession and is • These principles postulate the way the
both a science and an art. It is an life process is and predict the nature
empirical science and, like other of its evolving.
sciences, it lies in the phenomenon • Rogers identified the principles of
central to its focus. change as helicy, resonancy, and
• The purpose of nursing is to promote integrality.
health and well-being for all persons. • The helicy principle describes spiral
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS: PERSON development in continuous,
• Rogers defines person as an open nonrepeating, and innovative
system in continuous process with the patterning.
open system. • According to the principle of
• She defines unitary human being as resonancy, patterning changes with
an “irreducible, indivisible, the development from lower to higher
pandimensional energy field identified frequency, that is, with varying
by pattern and manifesting degrees of intensity.
characteristics that are specific to the • Integrality, the third principle of
whole”. homeodynamics, stresses the
 continuous mutual process of person
and environment.
• The principles of homeodynamics
(nature, process, and context of
change) support and exemplify the
assertion that “the universe is energy
that is always becoming more diverse
through changing, continuous wave
frequencies”. • In 1970, Rogers
identified the following five
assumptions that are also theoretical
assertions supporting her model
derived from literature on human
beings, physics, mathematics, and
behavioral science:
Theoretical Assertions Supporting Roger’s Model
1. “Man is a unified whole possessing his
own integrity and manifesting
characteristics more than and
different from the sum of his parts”
(energy field). 2. “Man and
environment are continuously
exchanging matter and energy with
one another” (openness).
3. “The life process evolves irreversibly
and unidirectionally along the
spacetime continuum” (helicy).
4. “Pattern and organization identify
man and reflect his innovative
wholeness” (pattern and
organization).
5. Man is characterized by the capacity
for abstraction and imagery,
language and thought, sensation, and
emotion” (sentient, thinking being).
THREE COMPONENTS OF CRITICAL
THINKING PROCESS THAT DIRECTS
PRACTICE
• Within Rogers’ model, the critical
thinking process directing practice
can be divided into three
components:
1. Pattern Appraisal
 Meant to avoid, if not transcend,
reductionistic categories of physical,
mental, spiritual, emotional, cultural,
and social assessment frameworks.
 Through observation and participation,
the nurse focuses on human
expressions of reflection, experience,
and perception to form a profile of the
patient.
 Mutual exploration of emergent
patterns allows identification of
unitary themes predominant in the
pandimensional human-environmental
field process.
 Mutual understanding implies knowing
participation but does not lead to the
nurse’s prescribing change or
predicting outcomes.
2. Mutual Patterning
3. Evaluation
Noninvasive Patterning Modalities
• Noninvasive patterning modalities used
within Rogerian practice include, but
are not limited to:
 Acupuncture
 Aromatherapy
 Dietary manipulation
 Guided imagery
 Guided reminiscence
 Humor
 Hypnosis
 Meditation
 Music
 Self-reflection
 Touch and massage
 Transcendent presence
GUIDELINES FOR THE EDUCATION OF
NURSES
 Rogers discusses structuring nursing
education programs to teach nursing
as a science and as a learned
profession.
 Rogers’ model clearly articulates
values and beliefs about human
beings, health, nursing, and the
educational process.
 Rogers advocated separate licensure
for nurses prepared with an
associate’s degree and those with a
baccalaureate degree.
 Recognizing that there is a difference
between the technically oriented and
the professional nurse.
 In her view, the professional nurse
must be well rounded and educated in
the humanities, sciences, and nursing.
THREE THEORIES DEVELOPED BY ROGERS
FROM THE SCIENCE OF UNTIARY HUMAN
BEINGS
1. Theory of accelerating evolution
2. Theory of rhythmical correlates of
change
3. Theory of paranormal phenomena