The “Celebration of Caring” quilt was based on the poster design created
by Zana Wolf that conveyed the conference theme “Communicating Caring:
the Essence of Nursing”. In the center was a bell motif indicative of the
host city’s Liberty Bell but, also symbolic of communication as the core
to caring. A bell is a means of communication used to send messages,
tell time, send out warnings and signal joy. The quilt also had 20 stars
for the 20th anniversary and symbolic of how each person, like a point
of light, brings special talent and ability to the gathering. The quilt
had a bright border, representing the excitement felt when people are working
together synergistically. Throughout the conference the “Celebration of
Caring” quilt served as a festive and beautiful reminder of our need
to connect, renew, and communicate with one another and others about the
advancement of caring scholarship over the past two decades and into the
future.
Throughout the conference participants had the opportunity to hear
excellent keynote speakers who talked about “Caring as Worry” Max van Manen
; “The Aesthetics of Caring” , Cornelia Tsakiridou; and “The Future
of Caring in the Challenging Health Care Environment”, Marilyn Ray. Each
of these three plenary speakers stretched our consciousness and challenged
us to reflective action. The themes about caring that emerged throughout
the conference from these speakers and others were these:
Intentionality:
consciousness of caring |
Aesthetics:
|
Thus, life imitated the quilt’s art as caring was communicated and expressed as time, message, joy and energy.
Festivities continued through the reception hosted by the Independence
Foundation to honor Dr. Madeleine Leininger’s early contributions to the
founding of the organization, the charter members; presidents (past,
present and future); and of course the loyal support of the membership
and board of the International Association for Human Caring. Special gratitude
and recognition was given to Dr. Delores Gaut for providing a place for
the organization and for serving as IAHC’s business office consultant.
Dr. Gaut helped the board in its transition to Blue Chip Management
as our new office site. We look forward to a good working relationship
with Deborah Engell, Executive Vice President. Please note new address,
phone number, E-mail and Fax as listed in this issue.
Two other events occurred that are noteworthy. One is that the board
authorized funding for a “Synthesis Challenge” and the second is
a renewed effort for IAHC chapter establishment.
The “Synthesis Challenge” arises from developmental stage of
the IAHC. Now twenty years old, with ten books published and a new journal
initiated; it is important to ask the question “Is IAHC fulfilling
its mission relative to the generation and dissemination of care scholarship
? ” “ Do we have a convincing argument for the effectiveness of caring
?” In a competitive market environment characterized by managed care
that requires the use of data based economic decision criteria, can we
show that caring practices are revenue generating/ or cost saving?
With the assistance of two graduate students I conducted an integrated review of care literature, that will be published in a future issue of the International Journal for Human Caring that addresses these questions in greater detail. For these remarks I’d like to share a few highlights.
Impact of IAHC Scholarship Dissemination
- Published 10 books in 17 years resulting in 157 Articles
- 57% of the articles were focused on theory, education, or concept analysis
- 43% of the articles were focused on clinical or system caring persepctives
- The studies included 1,995 patients; 27,758 nurses; 31 members of other disciplines; 500,564 participants in systems.
- Was initiated as a peer-reviewed, all volunteer journal indexed by CINAHL in 1998
- Publishing 3 issues a year is a 160% increase in the rate of scholarship dissemination in the first year.
- From the published books, 4% of IAHC articles examined the link between caring and outcomes
- From IJHC, 33% of the articles examine that link
- This represents a 789% rate of increase in reporting how caring matters to outcomes
- 20% of all articles searched through CINAHL about concepts of caring as they relate to outcomes come from IAHC publications.
Therefore, IAHC is fulfilling its mission.
- Searched 1988-1997-8 CINAHL and 20 Years of IAHC publications for articles that focused on clinical interventions, outcomes and caring
- This yielded 42 Articles
- 74% of the articles studied patients and or families and 45% of the articles had nurses as subjects ( articles could have both)
- The review used Gwen Sherwood’s categories of caring interventions that categorize activities as: Interactions related to healing, knowledge or intentional response or Outcomes related to healing, resolving physical/affective needs, or positive growth enhancing relationship.
All 42 articles used in the integrated review had all three Caring Interventions: Healing, Knowledge, Intention
For Caring Outcomes : All articles had at least one link between caring interventions and outcomes and most of these inferential links (72%) were strongly supported by data. The focus of the articles used in the review were:
- 50% Healing outcomes
- 43% Resolving physical/affective needs
- 57% Positive growth enhancing relationship
The Synthesis Challenge: This was a small sample using a restricted search methodology. A broader search yielded 303 articles related to caring interventions and outcomes. That is the essence of the “Synthesis Challenge”. Broaden the search of caring interventions and their relationship to outcomes and perform an integrated review of the literature. Help to be part of constructing the data base for how caring contributes to healing within the human condition. Use the support of colleagues in IAHC and the IJHC to build a convincing argument for caring through examining the patterns of evidence that can then be used to guide practice.
Even if you could not attend the 20th Anniversary Celebration of IAHC you can be part of the advancement of caring for the next twenty years through:
- Becoming a member
- Starting a chapter
- Joining in the synthesis challenge
- Attending the next Caring Conference in San Antonio Texas April 18-20
- Submitting manuscripts to the International Journal for Human Caring
- Becoming a peer reviewer
- Making your caring practices visible and understood
- Celebrating caring in everyday life.
Kathleen Valentine, PhD, RN
President IAHC
Managiang Editor IAHC
