Nursing and Humanities

The humanities have long been recognized as having a place in nursing knowledge, and have been used in education, theory, and research by nurses. However, the place of humanities in nursing has always remained ambiguous. This book offers an in-depth exploration of the relationship between humanities and nursing.

The book starts with a survey of the history of humanities in nursing, in comparison with medical humanities and in the context of the emergence of interdisciplinary health humanities. There is a description of applications of humanities within nursing. A central section offers an argument for placing the humanities firmly within a mixed model of nursing knowledge that is based upon embodied cognition. Final chapters explore these ideas through a series of essays on topics of humanities as a form of intervention, prose and poetry in relation to nursing, and applications of the Buddhist concept of interdependence.

Nursing and Humanities is intended primarily for nurse academics and graduate students, who have an interest in nursing theory, applications of arts and humanities in education, and qualitative research approaches. It will also interest practicing nurses who are looking for an account of nursing that combines the technical and the human.

Graham McCaffrey is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, Canada. He is Assistant Editor for the Journal of Applied Hermeneutics.