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26: Mutual Vulnerability: Creating Healing Environments That Nurture Wholeness and Well-Being

DOI:

10.1891/9780826133892.0026

Authors

  • King, Beth M.
  • Barry, Charlotte D.

Abstract

This chapter presents an examination of the concept of vulnerability in nursing through a specific lens of Caring Science explicated in the community nursing practice model (CNPM). This value-based model inspires and guides nurses in nurturing the wholeness and well-being of self and others in caring. Within this model, persons understood as whole in the moment and filled with the promise of possibilities unfolding in the caring nurse–patient relationship. The chapter discusses the concept of mutual vulnerability as an integral component of a healing environment. It presents a nursing situation grounded in Caring Science and informed by the concepts of healing environment, wholeness, and well-being. The chapter affirms Daniel’s (1998) definition of vulnerability: “Rather than a state to avoid, vulnerability is a trait to enjoy; for through it, humans celebrate the authenticity of what it is to be human”.