The Major Concepts

Nursing

Nursing is described by Benner as "caring relationship" (Alligood & Marriner-Tomey, 2010) She emphasises on creating connections of concern and caring. “Nursing is viewed as a caring practice whose science is guided by the moral art and ethics of care and responsibility” (Benner & Wrubel, 1989).

Nurses are given the responsibility of improving their skills on patient care as they progress through their profession by means of formal educational base coupled with experience. She believes the most important way a nurse can enhance their practice is through experience (Swingshift Nurses, 2009)

Person

Heidegger’s phenomenological definition of person was extensively used by Benner in her studies. A person is defined as being a self-interpreting entity. A person gets defined in the course of living a life, gains understanding through reflection of himself and his world  (Alligood & Marriner-Tomey, 2010).

Benner and Wrubel (1989) conceptualized four major aspects of understanding that the person must deal with:

1. The role of the situation

2. The role of the body

3. The role of personal concerns

4. The role of temporality.

These four, when summed up, make the totality of the person. This particular view veers away from the classical belief of Cartesian dualism, where the mind and the body are distinct and separate entities

Furthermore, Benner and Wrubel (1989) outline the following five dimensions of the body

1. The unborn complex - this includes the body of the fetus and the newborn baby

2. The habitual skilled body - this includes the body that has gained socially learned postures, gestures, customs, and skills (for example, body language). These are learned through social interaction as time passes and these skills are transferred from person to person.

3. The projective body - this include the body that is predisposed to act in specific situations (i.e. handling the doorknob upon opening a door)

4. The actual projected body indicating an individual’s current bodily orientation or projection in a situation that is flexible and varied to fit the situation. This would include the learned formal skills such as operating a computer or driving a car.

5. The phenomenal body, the body aware of itself with the ability to imagine and describe kinesthetic sensations

Health

The concept of health is defined by Benner as the state that can be assessed. On the other hand, the concept of well-being is the human experience of health or wholeness. Well-being and being ill are understood as distinct ways of being in the world. Benner uses the idea of health being not just the absence of disease and illness. In this particular case, health pertains more on the physical, physiological and observable, in contrast with well-being that is more on the experiential and psychological (Alligood & Marriner-Tomey, 2010)  .

She further adds that a person may acquire a disease and yet not experience illness, because illness is the human experience of loss or dysfunction, whereas disease is what can be assessed at the physical level (Benner & Wrubel, 1989).

Environment

Rather than using the word "environment," Benner and Wrubel (1989) use the term "situation" in their work. For them, a situation conveys a social environment with social definition and meaningfulness. Whereas other theories focus on the physical environment, Benner's work gives emphasis to the experiential interaction of the person with those around him.

They use the phenomenological terms "being situated" and "situated meaning," which are defined by the person’s engaged interaction, interpretation, and understanding of the situation. This means that various elements from the person's past, present, and future, own personal meanings, habits, and perspectives all influence the current situation.