Caring Science, Mindful Practice

Kathleen Sitzman and Jean Watson have built something genuinely useful here: a nursing text that takes Watson's Human Caring Theory off the shelf and puts it into daily clinical practice. The ten Caritas Processes are walked through one by one, with micro-practice examples and contemplative exercises drawn from Thich Nhat Hanh's mindfulness work. Original research from the authors' own studies gives the second edition real substance beyond theory. Doody's Medical Reviews called their dedication to caring science "extraordinary," and it shows. The honest caveat is that this is a narrow professional book — nursing students and practicing nurses will find it rich, but general readers won't. The mindfulness framing may also sit uneasily with readers from traditional faith backgrounds. For its intended audience, though, it earns its place.