MARTHA E.

ROGERS
1914 - 1994

Gravesite of Martha Rogers in Knoxville, TN

Photo by Martha Alligood
Martha Elizabeth Rogers was born in Dallax Texas on May 12, 1914, the oldest of four
children in a family which strongly valued education. The family moved to Knoxville, TN
where she attended the University of Tennessee in l93l taking undergraduate science
courses for 2 years. But then she entered nursing school at Knoxville General Hospital,
received her nursing diploma in 1936. She completed a BSN in Public Health Nursing from
George Peabody College (Nashville) in l937.

She worked as a public health nurse, first in Michigan, then in Connecticut. In l945 she
earned her master's degree in public health nursing supervision from Teacher's College
Columbia University. She was director of the Visiting Nurses Association in Phoenix, AZ.
She returned East in 1951 earning a M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins University while
teaching at Catholic University. She continued on at Johns Hopkins and completed a Sc.D
in 1954.

She then began her long tenure with the Division of Nursing Education at New York
University. Her strong background in sciences guided NYU to develop the nursing program
as a distinct body of scientific knowledge.

She first published her model of human interaction and the nursing process in 1970 when
she published An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. This view presented a
drastic but attractive way of viewing human interaction and the nursing process. Further
information on her theory can be found in publications and on the Internet.
Dr. Rogers was professionally active in a number of organizations and remained active until
the time of her death on March 13, 1994

Source: https://www.aahn.org/rogers
Martha Elizabeth Rogers (May 12, 1914 – March 13, 1994) was an American
nurse, researcher, theorist, and author widely known for developing the Science
of Unitary Human Beings and for her landmark book, An Introduction to the
Theoretical Basis of Nursing.

She believes that a patient can never be separated from his or her environment
when addressing health and treatment. Her knowledge about the coexistence of
the human and his or her environment contributed a lot in the process of
change toward better health.

Early Life

Rogers was born on May 12, 1914; sharing a birthday with Florence Nightingale.
She was the eldest of four children of Bruce Taylor Rogers and Lucy Mulholland
Keener Rogers.

Portrait of Martha E. Rogers

She had a thirst for knowledge at an early age. She found Kindergarten to be
“terribly exciting” and had a love and passion for books that was fostered by her
parents. Her father introduced her to the public library at the age of 3 where
she loved story time. She liked to go off by herself with a book. And by the
fourth grade, she had read every book in her school library. She used to go to
the public library before I was 6 even before she could read. She was well
acquainted with the public library and started reading eight books at a time. Her
father used to be bothered if she was just skimming but he later on discovered
that the young Rogers was learning fast.

In fact, Rogers already knew the Greek alphabet by age 10. By the sixth grade,
she already finished reading all 20 volumes of The Child’s Book of Knowledge
and was into the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Four Generations, Left to right: Lucy K Rogers,

mother; Martha E. Rogers; Laura B. Keener, grandmother; Lucy M. Brownlee, great-
grandmother. via V. M. Malinski & E.A.M. Barrett, 1994
She also loved to read various topics like anthropology, archaeology,
cosmology, ethnography, astronomy, ethics, psychology, eastern philosophy,
and aesthetics. By her senior year she had completed all the high school math
courses and was taking a college level algebra course where she was the only
female in the class.

Education
Initially, Rogers wanted to do something that would, hopefully contribute to
social welfare like law and medicine. However, she only

studied medicine for a couple of years because women in medicine were not
particularly desirable during her time. Instead, Rogers along with her friend
entered a local hospital that had a school of nursing. But just like Nightingale,
her parents weren’t really any happier over that decision than they had between
over medicine.

Bruce T. Rogers (Father), Martha, Keener (Brother), Laura (Sister), Lucy K. Rogers (Mother),
via E.A.M. Barrett & V.M. Malinski, 1994
She then transferred to Knoxville General Hospital’s nursing program and was
one of 25 students in her class. She described her training as at times as being
miserable because the training was like the “Army, pre-Nightingale.” She even
spent a week at home, thinking of not returning to school but eventually
enjoyed working with people and patients.
Rogers received her nursing diploma from the Knoxville General Hospital School
of Nursing in 1936, then earned her Public Health Nursing degree from George
Peabody College in Tennessee in 1937. She sold her car to pay for tuition and
entered a Masters degree program full-time.

Rogers Family, circa

1945. Jane L. Coleman, Martha E. Rogers, Lucy K. Rogers, (Mother) Keener (Brother) , Laura
B. Whihte (sister) via E.A.M. Barrett & V.M. Malinski, 1994
Her Master’s degree was from Teachers College at Columbia University in 1945,
and her Doctorate in Nursing was given to her from Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore in 1954. She completed her studies in 1954 and the title of her
dissertation was “The association of maternal and fetal factors with the
development of behavior problems among elementary school children.”

Career and Appointments

After Rogers graduated from George Peabody College in Tennessee in 1937, she
worked for the Children’s Fund of Michigan for two years as public health nurse.
 Rogers in her Teens via E.A.M. Barrett &
V.M. Malinski, 1994
In 1940, she accepted a position in Hartford, CT at the Visiting Nurse
Association. She worked at the Association for five years, first as an Assistant
Supervisor, then as the Assistant Education Director, and lastly as the acting
Director of Education. At the same time she was completing her coursework at
Teacher’s College and completed her degree requirements (Master of Arts) in
1945.

After completing her degree in 1945, she sent out a number of job inquiry
letters, considered staying in Hartford, but settled on a position as the Executive
Director at the Visiting Nurse Service in Phoenix, Arizona. She believed she may
have been the first nurse in Arizona with a masters degree and for 1945 to
1951, she built up the Visiting Nursing Service in Phoenix.

While a doctoral student, she did spend a year as a visiting lecturer at a

Catholic University in Washington, DC.
Rogers and her predecessor Vera Fry at NYU circa 1954
Rogers was then appointed Professor and Head of the Division of Nursing at
New York University right after graduating from Hopkins. She was encouraged
to accept the position by Ruth Freeman. When Rogers arrived at NYU, Vera Fry
was the previous Division Head and Joan Hoexter stated that all of the nursing
faculty left except her. She was also a Fellow for the American Academy of
Nursing.
Rogers officially retired as Professor and Head of the Division of Nursing in 1975
after 21 years of service. Following her retirement, she continued to teach at
NYU, was a frequent presenter at scientific conferences throughout the world,
and consistently worked to refine her conceptual system.
Rogers with John Phillips
Rogers was also actively involved in professional nursing organizations and
associations concerned with education and scholarship. In 1979, she became
Professor Emerita and continued to have an active role in the development of
nursing and the Science of Unitary Human Beings.

Theory

Main Article: Martha E. Rogers’ Theory of Unitary Human Beings

The Science of Unitary Human Beings

Rogers with Sr. Callista Roy (right)

Rogers’ theory is known as the Science of Unitary Human Beings (SUHB). The
theory views nursing as both a science and an art as it provides a way to view
the unitary human being, who is integral with the universe. The unitary human
being and his or her environment are one. Nursing focuses on people and the
manifestations that emerge from the mutual human-environmental field
process.

SUHB contains two dimensions: the science of nursing, which is the knowledge
specific to the field of nursing that comes from scientific research; and the art of
nursing, which involves using the science of nursing creatively to help better the
life of the patient.

Rogers wearing “Just visiting this planet!” cap, Photo by

M Bramlett, 1991
Her model addresses the importance of the environment as an integral part of
the patient, and uses that knowledge to help nurses blend the science and art of
nursing to ensure patients have a smooth recovery and can get back to the best
health possible.

There are eight concepts in Rogers’ nursing theory: energy field, openness,
pattern, pan-dimensionality, homeodynamic principles, resonance, helicy, and
integrality.

Rogers’ development of the said theory has become an influential nursing

theory in the United States. When first introduced, it was considered profound,
and was too ambitious, but now is simply thought to be ahead of its time. Her
conceptual framework has greatly influenced all aspects of nursing by offering
an alternative to traditional approaches of nursing.

Works

Front cover of Reveille in Nursing (1964)

Rogers wrote three books that enriched the learning experience and influenced
the direction of nursing research for countless students: Educational Revolution
in Nursing (1961), Reveille in Nursing (1964).

In about 1963 Rogers edited a journal called Nursing Science. It was during that
time that Rogers was beginning to formulate ideas about the publication of her
third book, An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing (1970), the last
of which introduced the four Rogerian Principles of Homeodynamics.

Her publications include: Theoretical Basis of Nursing (1970), Nursing Science

and Art: A Prospective (1988), Nursing: Science of Unitary, Irreducible, Human
Beings Update (1990), and Vision of Space Based Nursing (1990).
 Roger’s third book “An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing”
(1970)

Awards and Honors

Rogers was honored with numerous awards and citations for her sustained
contributions to nursing and science. In 1996, she was posthumously inducted
into the American Nurses Association’s Hall of Fame.

Death

Rogers died on March 13, 1994 and was buried in Knoxville, Tennessee. She
has a memorial placed in the sidewalk near her childhood home in Knoxville.
Martha E. Rogers’ Theory of
Unitary Human Beings
By

Gil Wayne, RN

September 9, 2014

The belief of the coexistence of the human and the environment has greatly
influenced the process of change toward better health. In short, a patient can’t
be separated from his or her environment when addressing health and
treatment. This view lead and opened Martha E. Rogers‘ theory, known as
the “Science of Unitary Human Beings,” which allowed nursing to be
considered one of the scientific disciplines.

Description

Rogers’ theory defined Nursing as “an art and science that is humanistic and
humanitarian. It is directed toward the unitary human and is concerned with the
nature and direction of human development. The goal of nurses is to participate
in the process of change.”

According to Rogers, the Science of Unitary Human Beings contains two

dimensions: the science of nursing, which is the knowledge specific to the field
of nursing that comes from scientific research; and the art of nursing, which
involves using the science of nursing creatively to help better the life of the
patient.

Assumptions

The assumptions of Rogers’ Theory of Unitary Human Beings are as follows: (1)
Man is a unified whole possessing his own integrity and manifesting
characteristics that are more than and different from the sum of his parts. (2)
Man and environment are continuously exchanging matter and energy with one
another. (3) The life process evolves irreversibly and unidirectionally along the
space-time continuum. (4) Pattern and organization identify man and reflect his
innovative wholeness. And lastly, (5) Man is characterized by the capacity for
abstraction and imagery, language and thought, sensation and emotion.

Major Concepts
Human-unitary human beings

A person is defined as an indivisible, pan-dimensional energy field identified by

pattern, and manifesting characteristics specific to the whole, and that can’t be
predicted from knowledge of the parts. A person is also a unified whole, having
its own distinct characteristics that can’t be viewed by looking at, describing, or
summarizing the parts.

Health

Rogers defines health as an expression of the life process. It is the

characteristics and behavior coming from the mutual, simultaneous interaction
of the human and environmental fields, and health and illness are part of the
same continuum. The multiple events occurring during the life process show the
extent to which a person is achieving his or her maximum health potential. The
events vary in their expressions from greatest health to those conditions that
are incompatible with the maintaining life process.

Nursing

It is the study of unitary, irreducible, indivisible human and environmental

fields: people and their world. Rogers claims that nursing exists to serve people,
and the safe practice of nursing depends on the nature and amount of scientific
nursing knowledge the nurse brings to his or her practice

Scope of Nursing

Nursing aims to assist people in achieving their maximum health potential.

Maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of disease, nursing diagnosis,
intervention, and rehabilitation encompass the scope of nursing’s goals.

Nursing is concerned with people-all people-well and sick, rich and poor, young
and old. The arenas of nursing’s services extend into all areas where there are
people: at home, at school, at work, at play; in hospital, nursing home, and
clinic; on this planet and now moving into outer space.

Environmental Field

“An irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field identified by pattern

and integral with the human field.”

Energy Field

The energy field is the fundamental unit of both the living and the non-living. It
provides a way to view people and the environment as irreducible wholes. The
energy fields continuously vary in intensity, density, and extent.

Subconcepts

Openness

There are no boundaries that stop energy flow between the human and
environmental fields, which is the openness in Rogers’ theory. It refers to
qualities exhibited by open systems; human beings and their environment are
open systems.

Pandimensional

Pan-dimensionality is defined as “non-linear domain without spatial or temporal

attributes.” The parameters that humans use in language to describe events are
arbitrary, and the present is relative; there is no temporal ordering of lives.

Synergy is defined as the unique behavior of whole systems, unpredicted by

any behaviors of their component functions taken separately.

Human behavior is synergistic.

Pattern

Rogers defined pattern as the distinguishing characteristic of an energy field

seen as a single wave. It is an abstraction, and gives identity to the field.

Principles of Homeodynamics

Homeodynamics should be understood as a dynamic version of homeostasis (a

relatively steady state of internal operation in the living system).

Homeodynamic principles postulate a way of viewing unitary human beings. The

three principles of homeodynamics are resonance, helicy, and integrality.

Principle of Reciprocy

Postulates the inseparability of man and environment and predicts that

sequential changes in life process are continuous, probabilistic revisions
occurring out of the interactions between man and environment.

Principle of Synchrony

This principle predicts that change in human behavior will be determined by the
simultaneous interaction of the actual state of the human field and the actual
state of the environmental field at any given point in space-time.

Principle of Integrality (Synchrony + Reciprocy)

Because of the inseparability of human beings and their environment,

sequential changes in the life processes are continuous revisions occurring from
the interactions between human beings and their environment.

Between the two entities, there is a constant mutual interaction and mutual
change whereby simultaneous molding is taking place in both at the same time.
Principle of Resonancy

It speaks to the nature of the change occurring between human and

environmental fields. The life process in human beings is a symphony of
rhythmical vibrations oscillating at various frequencies.

It is the identification of the human field and the environmental field by wave
patterns manifesting continuous change from longer waves of lower frequency
to shorter waves of higher frequency.

Principle of Helicy

The human-environment field is a dynamic, open system in which change is

continuous due to the constant interchange between the human and
environment.

This change is also innovative. Because of constant interchange, an open

system is never exactly the same at any two moments; rather, the system is
continually new or different.

Science of Unitary Human Beings and Nursing Process

The nursing process has three steps in Rogers’ Theory of Unitary Human
Beings: assessment, voluntary mutual patterning, and evaluation.

The areas of assessment are: the total pattern of events at any given point in
space-time, simultaneous states of the patient and his or her environment,
rhythms of the life process, supplementary data, categorical disease entities,
subsystem pathology, and pattern appraisal. The assessment should be a
comprehensive assessment of the human and environmental fields.

Mutual patterning of the human and environmental fields includes:

  sharing knowledge
 offering choices
 empowering the patient
 fostering patterning
 evaluation
 repeat pattern appraisal, which includes nutrition, work/leisure
activities, wake/sleep cycles, relationships, pain, and fear/hopes
 identify dissonance and harmony
 validate appraisal with the patient
 self-reflection for the patient

Strengths

Rogers’ concepts provide a worldview from which nurses may derive theories
and hypotheses and propose relationships specific to different situations.

Rogers’ theory is not directly testable due to lack of concrete hypotheses, but it
is testable in principle.

Weaknesses

Rogers’ model does not define particular hypotheses or theories for it is an

abstract, unified, and highly derived framework.

Testing the concepts’ validity is questionable because its concepts are not
directly measurable.

The theory was believed to be profound, and was too ambitious because the
concepts are extremely abstract.

Rogers claimed that nursing exists to serve people, however, nurses’ roles were
not clearly defined.
The purpose of nurses is to promote health and well-being for all persons
wherever they are. However, Rogers’ model has no concrete definition of health
state.

Conclusion

The Science of Unitary HUman Beings is highly generalizable as the concepts

and ideas are not confined with a specific nursing approach unlike the usual way
of other nurse theorists in defining the major concepts of a theory.

Rogers gave much emphasis on how a nurse should view the patient. She
developed principles which emphasizes that a nurse should view the client as a
whole.

Her statements, in general, made us believe that a person and his or her
environment are integral to each other. That is, a patient can’t be separated
from his or her environment when addressing health and treatment. Her
conceptual framework has greatly influenced all aspects of nursing by offering
an alternative to traditional approaches of nursing.
 Science of Unitary Human Beings

This page was last updated on January 26, 2012

Introduction

 Theorist - Martha E Rogers

 Born :May 12, 1914, Dallas, Texas, USA
 Diploma : Knoxville General Hospital School of Nursing(1936)
 Graduation in Public Health Nursing : George Peabody College, TN,
1937
 MA :Teachers college, Columbia university, New York, 1945
 MPH :Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1952
 Doctorate in nursing :Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1954
 Fellowship: American academy of nursing
 Position: Professor Emerita, Division of Nursing, New York
University, Consultant, Speaker
 Died : March 13 , 1994

Publications of Martha Rogers

 Theoretical basis of nursing (Rogers 1970)

 Nursing science and art :a prospective (Rogers 1988)
 Nursing :science of unitary, irreducible, human beings update
(Rogers 1990)
 Vision of space based nursing (Rogers 1990)

Overview of Rogerian model

 Rogers conceptual system provides a body of knowledge in nursing.

 Rogers model provides the way of viewing the unitary human being.
 Humans are viewed as integral with the universe.
 The unitary human being and the environment are one, not
dichotomous
 Nursing focus on people and the manifestations that emerge from
the mutual human /environmental field process
 Change of pattern and organization of the human field and the
environmental field is propagated by waves
  The manifestations of the field patterning that emerge are
observable events
 The identification of the pattern provide knowledge and
understanding of human experience
 Basic characteristics which describes the life process of human:
energy field, openness, pattern, and pan dimensionality
 Basic concepts include unitary human being, environment, and
homeodynamic principles

Concepts of Rogers model

Energy field

 The energy field is the fundamental unit of both the living and
nonliving
 This energy field "provide a way to perceive people and environment
as irreducible wholes"
 The energy fields continuously varies in intensity, density, and
extent.

Openness

 The human field and the environmental field are constantly

exchanging their energy
 There are no boundaries or barrier that inhibit energy flow between
fields

Pattern

 Pattern is defined as the distinguishing characteristic of an energy

field perceived as a single waves
 "pattern is an abstraction and it gives identity to the field"

Pan dimensionality

 Pan dimensionality is defined as "non linear domain without spatial

or temporal attributes"
 The parameters that human use in language to describe events are
arbitrary.
 The present is relative, there is no temporal ordering of lives.

Homeodynamic principles
  The principles of homeodynamic postulates the way of perceiving
unitary human beings
 The fundamental unit of the living system is an energy field
 Three principle of homeodynamics
o Resonancy
o Helicy
o integrality

Resonance

 Resonance is an ordered arrangement of rhythm characterizing both

human field and environmental field that undergoes continuous
dynamic metamorphosis in the human environmental process

Helicy

 Helicy describes the unpredictable, but continuous, nonlinear

evolution of energy fields as evidenced by non repeating
rhythmicties
 The principle of Helicy postulates an ordering of the humans
evolutionary emergence

Integrality

 The mutual, continuous relationship of the human energy field and

the environmental field .
 Changes occur by by the continuous repatterning of the human and
environmental fields by resonance waves
 The fields are one and integrated but unique to each other

Nursing Paradigms

Unitary Human Being (person)

 A unitary human being is an "irreducible, indivisible, pan

dimensional (four-dimensional) energy field identified by pattern and
manifesting characteristics that are specific to the whole and which
cannot be predicted from knowledge of the parts" and "a unified
whole having its own distinctive characteristics which cannot be
perceived by looking at, describing, or summarizing the parts"

Environment
  The environment is an "irreducible, pan dimensional energy field
identified by pattern and integral with the human field"
 The field coexist and are integral.
 Manifestation emerge from this field and are perceived.

Health

 "an expression of the life process; they are the "characteristics and
behavior emerging out of the mutual, simultaneous interaction of the
human and environmental fields"
 Health and illness are the part of the sane continuum.
 The multiple events taking place along life's axis denote the extent
to which man is achieving his maximum health potential and very in
their expressions from greatest health to those conditions which are
incompatible with the maintaining life process

Nursing

 Two dimensions Independent science of nursing

1. An organized body of knowledge which is specific to
nursing is arrived at by scientific research and logical
analysis
2. Art of nursing practice:
 The creative use of science for the betterment of
the human
 The creative use of its knowledge is the art of its
practice

 Nursing exists to serve people.

 It is the direct and overriding responsibility to the society
 The safe practice of nursing depends on the nature and amount of
scientific nursing knowledge the individual brings to practice…….the
imaginative, intellectual judgment with which such knowledge is
made in service to the man kind.

Rogerian theories-Grand theories

 The theory of paranormal phenomena

 The theory of rhythmicities
 The theory of accelerating evolution

Theory of paranormal phenomena

  This theory explains precognition, déjàvu, clairvoyance, telepathy,
and therapeutic touch
 Clairvoyance is rational in a four dimensional human field in
continuous mutual, simultaneous interaction with a four dimensional
world; there is no linear time nor any separation of human and the
environmental fields

The theory of accelerating evolution

 Theory postulates that evolutionary change is speeding up and that

the range of diversity of life process is widening.
 Higher wave frequencies are associated with accelerating human
development

Theory of Rhythmicity

 Focus on the human field rhythms (these rhythms are different from
the biological, psychological rhythm)
 Theory deals with the manifestations of the whole unitary man as
changes in human sleep wake patterns, indices of human field
motion, perception of time passing, and other rhythmic development

Theories derived from the science of unitary human beings

 The perspective rhythm model (Patrick 1983)

 Theory of health as expanding consciousness (Neuman, 1986)
 Theory of creativity, actualization and empathy (Alligood 1991)
 Theory of self transcendence (Reed1997)
 Power as knowing participation in change (Barrett 1998)

References

1. George B. Julia , Nursing Theories- The base for professional

Nursing Practice , 3rd ed. Norwalk, Appleton & Lange.
2. Wills M.Evelyn, McEwen Melanie (2002). Theoretical Basis for
Nursing Philadelphia. Lippincott Williams& wilkins.
3. Meleis Ibrahim Afaf (1997) , Theoretical Nursing : Development &
Progress 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Lippincott.
4. Taylor Carol,Lillis Carol (2001)The Art & Science Of Nursing Care
4th ed. Philadelphia, Lippincott.
5. Potter A Patricia, Perry G Anne (1992) Fundamentals Of Nursing –
Concepts Process & Practice 3rd ed. London Mosby Year Book.