Unitary Persons Theory By Martha E Rogers

Rogers Science of Unitary Persons

    Since 1970, when Martha Rogers initially published The Science of
Irreducible Unitary conceptual model has varied. The work has been described as
too abstract to be useful in practice; yet its influence on practice, research,
and education continue to grow internationally.

Model and Its Origin and Need 

    The model is derived from many disciplines and results in an
integrated whole, unique to nursing. It does not set out to define practice,
but is considered a means of stimulating the development of a body of
knowledge. It is simple and elegant in design, although it did not seem so
initially.

    It is important to understand that when she first wrote her book,
we had just come out of one of the most tumultuous decades in American history:
the 1960s. We were still grappling with an event that had stunned the
nation the assassination of a vibrant young president shown repeatedly and
graphically, for the first time in our history, on television. 

    To understand
the mood, one can compare it to the relentless replay of 9/11/01-the fall of
the World Trade Center towers and the devastating and prolonged after effects
of this experience for people in this country. We were in the grip of the war
in Vietnam, which divided the country in ways similar to the war in Iraq today.
We had just landed a man on the moon and Woodstock and the Beatles were to
become national icons.

Change to the Traditional Clinical Setup

    The majority of nurses were graduates of diploma schools. The mode
was to follow the doctor’s orders and the oral tradition of previous
generations of nurses. Few thoughts of a career in nursing as being more than
just a job. 

    We thought that “we”-the medical experts, led by the physician,
knew what was best, and that patient’s needed to learn to be compliant with
what we prescribed and advised. 

    Nursing theory did not exist.Within this cultural framework, Rogers writes about the natural
process of change, the inherent quality of human beings’ right to choose, and
the infinite nature of the relationship between man and the universe. 

    Her
description of nursing as a learned profession, resulting from a strong
academic preparation and based on knowledge unique to nursing, was equally
stunning and controversial.

Martha Concept and Human Nature

    Through 1994, she revised and refined her theory. She makes several
assumptions to be tested so that further nursing knowledge can be formulated:
the human being is greater than the sum of its parts: there is constant,
progressive interaction between the human being and environment; the
environment is infinite it extends to the universe and be yond: reality is as
it appears it is constructed; energy is matter is energy, the human being can
choose to engage in change. 

Postulates of Theory

    Rogers defines four postulates as the basis of his
theory:

• Energy fields-in Rogers’ world we are energy fields, as is
  everything around us. She uses the term “unitary” to describe the indivisible
  and irreducible nature of the human being environment interaction.
• Openness an attribute of all energy fields a constant mutual
  interaction and flow, as opposed to a cause-and-effect relationship.
• Pattern the manifestation of energy fields and exchange which is
  experienced and known by all senses, including intuition.
• Pan dimensionality the boundlessness of the universe, without
  spatial or linear limits.

Principles of Theory

    In unison with these assumptions and postulates she proposed three
principles of homeodynamics:

    Propellers continuous, nonrepetitive and innovative patterning
(moving forward/ diversifying). Resonance patterning which changes from lower
to higher frequency (responsiveness increasing vibration). Integrality the
continuous mutual process between person and environment (feeling “at one” with
the universe). 

    Rogers, whatever one’s opinion of her the ory, has to be
credited with thinking “outside of the box” (another unfamiliar concept in
1970).

Marthas’ Achievements 

    Her accomplishments were remarkable for the nursing profession. She
established that professional nursing required knowledge gleaned from the arts
and science and self understanding on the part of the individual nurse.     

She
provided the basis for the formulation of nursing theory. She understood that
ongoing change, which is inherent in her theory, applied to her own work and
she revised it accordingly until her death on March 13, 1994.     

She studied and
understood information from all she read and experienced and synthesized it
into a body of knowledge unique to nursing.

    Martha Rogers epitomized her theory: open, constantly changing,
diverse, thinking without boundaries, and resonating to her world, her
profession, and the future.