Theories of caring in nursing, developed over decades, are rooted in the ethical principle of respect for human dignity and an expectation of nurse behavior that demonstrates caritas. This article describes the context and evolution of caring-theory development; presents an overview of caring theories, their components, and studies framed by a caring theory; and examines the current state of caring-theory development. The body of knowledge framed by caring theories, constructs, and models contributes to caring science. Caring science depends on how future research and scholarship are guided, translated, disseminated, and expanded to strengthen caring science and to direct nursing praxis.

Technology has shaped human life. As technology has become increasingly sophisticated philosophers, such as Heidegger, have pondered the worth of its influence on the quality and duration of life. Concerns about technology encompass the experiences of persons whose lives depend upon technologies and the experiences of those persons who care for them. Accompanying the rapture of technologies in nursing is the consequent suffering or the price of advancing dependency with technologies that critically influence contemporary human lives. With increased use of technologies and ensuing technological dependency experienced by recipients of care, the imperative is to provide technological competency as caring in nursing, guided by a formalized practice model such as the technological competency as caring in nursing theory.

As there is no recipe for nursing as a moral practice, the nurse is obliged to risk herself in order to meet the ethical demand placed on her as a professional and to preserve the vulnerable trust essential to cooperation with the patient. On the basis of research and examples from interviews with six patients and six nurses, this article discusses examples of nurses’ moral irresponsibility stemming from a lack of consciousness about the power inherent in the relationship between nurse and patient. The challenge for the nurse is to understand that the trust and power embedded in his/her meeting with patients entails a demand for attentiveness.

This qualitative pilot study preceded quantitative inquiry in a mixed-method doctoral dissertation. The pilot aimed to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of women with fibromyalgia. Using a phenomenological approach, six themes were revealed: There is nothing we can do for you, We’ve got to find something, I feel like I’m going crazy, Losing, The best day, and Hope: I can do this. The findings provided support for the theoretical works of Mishel (1990) and Watson (1979, 1985), indicating therapeutic patient–health care provider communication is a powerful resource and an essential component of quality health care for women with fibromyalgia.