Concept Development and Implementation of Family Care/Caring Theory in Concentric Sphere Family Environment Theory

Abstract

Caring is directed toward a variety of things. One of them is thought to be the concept of “family caring” aimed at families. This study attempts to clarify family caring and develop Family Care/ Caring Theory (FCCT), with the aim of implementing it in conjunction with an existing family nursing theory, the Concentric Sphere Family Environment Theory (CSFET). In Japan and in Hong Kong, family ethnography (including formal interviews) was conducted. As a result, the item “family health care nurses and their colleagues” was added to the family external environment of the CSFET. In the family environment, evidence was obtained to the effect that the family system unit is cared for by the nursing professional, and conversely the family system unit cares for the nursing professional, in a circular transaction. Observing the two-dimensional plane formed by the structural distance and functional distance, family caring assumes a structure of concentric circles, and according to transactions, the structural distance and functional distance between the nursing professional and family system unit are gradually approached, and through deepening of mutual trust maintain an appropriate distance. Moreover observing the three-dimensional space-time continuum which is created through addition of the temporal distance, family caring forms a helical structure. As transactions are repeated along the temporal axis, the family system unit’s self-actualization of other individuals and the self-actualization of the nursing professional are realized. Through these processes, a family care/caring relationship is reinforced and established. This is the concept of FCCT. Through future utilization in clinical settings this will be empirically substantiated, and it will be necessary to continue making creative corrections and revisions.