This PowerPoint is a comprehensive overview of Martha Rogers's abstract conceptual model of the Science of Unitary Human Beings, with a simplified description of her model, including a case scenario illustrating key conceptual principles.

1. Martha Rogers’s Science of
Unitary Human Beings
SIMPLIFIED….WITH A CASE SCENARIO INCLUDED
By Karen V. Duhamel, MSN, MS, RN
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2. Who was Martha Rogers and why is she
important to the science and art of
Nursing?
 Rogers was a highly educated nurse who earned her doctorate degree
from Johns Hopkins University in 1954, wrote 200+ articles, 3 books and
founded the Society of Rogerian Scholars (1988)
 Developed a Conceptual model of nursing that focused on the impact
energy fields and patterns have in nurse, patient and environmental
interactions
 Rogers saw human beings as pandimensional (without physical or
psychological boundaries), resulting in a “unitary whole” with sharing and
exchanging of energy occurring within one’s environment
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3. Key Conceptual Terms
 What does Martha mean by “Energy fields”?
 The fundamental unit of both the living and nonliving; infinite, pandimensional,
unpredictable – Rogers’s definition of a Unitary Human Being
 What does Martha mean by “Patterns”?
 Energy fields that represent the person’s Whole existence – they are intangible,
non-visible manifestations but perceptually present in all interactions
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4. Martha’s Definition of Homeodynamics
 The way in which a person’s life process evolves
 Physiological equilibrium (homeostasis) of person
 Consists of:
 Resonancy: continuous movement from lower to higher frequency wave patterns
between person and environment; postulated to be associated with a heightened
sense of well-being
 Helicy: the unpredictable changes between person and environment which foster
creativity, innovation and problem-solving
 Integrality: continuous interactive rhythms between person and environment
 Synchrony: continuous change that happens simultaneously between person and
environment
 Reciprocy: continuous interaction between human and environment
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5. Rogers’s Metaparadigm
 Nursing:
 requires specific learning
 considered a profession
 both an empirical science and art
 purpose is to promote health and well-
being for all persons
 exists for the care of people and life
process of humans
 Person:
 an open system continuously connected
to the environment
 Whole in the truest sense and non-
reducible, comprised of patterns and
pandimensional energy fields
 Health:
 passive means without illness (wellness)
 relates to a person’s value system and
personal cultural interpretation, consisting
of both high and low values
 “life process” is filled with dynamic and
creative unity with one’s environment
 Environment:
 irreducible, pandimensional sharing of
energy and patterns with humans through
synchronous interactions
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6. Examples of Homeodynamic Elements in Nurse-
Patient Interactions
 A patient in acute pain (= low level of resonancy)
 Medicating a patient in pain (= high level of resonancy; synchrony
between person and environment)
 Alternative treatment modalities such as Reiki, Imagery, Therapeutic Touch
(= helical interventions)
 Working collaboratively with the patient (person) to address what he/she
considers health, such as a weight loss program (= synchrony, helicy)
 The nurse approaches the patient (person) in a calm manner and the
patient responds positively (= reciprocy, synchrony)
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7. Case Scenario
 Bill is hospitalized for unrelenting chest pain and shortness of breath. Bill’s
resonancy level is quite low, requiring pain medication, oxygen, and
supportive care provided by nursing. Bill is experiencing integrality,
synchrony and reciprocy with his environment. Bill undergoes a cardiac
catherization, followed by a successful CABG procedure and receives
wound care, pain management, disease and medication education by
nursing. Bill tells his nurse he values having survived his heart attack and
believes he has a chance to start over. He wants to quit smoking and
reduce his stress level to become more healthy. The nurse educates Bill on
smoking cessation options and stress reduction techniques, such as
meditation, and guided imagery. Bill has received helical interventions
and continues in a state of integrality with his environment.
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8. References
 Gueldner, S. H., Michel, Y., Bramlett. M. H., Chinn-Fang, L., Johnston, L. W., Endo,
E., . Carlyle, M. S. (2005). The well-being picture scale: A revision of the Index of
Field Energy. Nursing Science Quarterly 18(1), 42-50.
 Hesook, S.K., & Kollak, I. (2006). Nursing theories: Conceptual &
philosophical foundations (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
 Marriner-Tomey, A., & Alligood, M. R. (2002). Nursing theorists and their work
(7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo: Mosby.
 Sitzman, K., & Eichelberger, L. (2004). Understanding the work of nurse
theorists. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
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