With a focus on caring ethics, the aim of this study was to see if and how experienced nurses in care for the elderly described caring and whether they included any theoretical basis to their caring acts. Questions that guided the research were: Does ethical caring theory have any relevance in nurses clinical work? How do experienced nurses describe care in general, their intentions and motives in particular? In order to enter into the meanings of caring, a reflective lifeworld research approach based on phenomenology was utilized. Eleven experienced nurses were interviewed and the resulting transcripts were analysed for meaning, The findings revealed caring as a seamless integration of different levels, or embodied moments, of knowledge. In caring that is understood as a practical, aesthetical and ethical field of force, there is room for "being", "becoming" and "doing". Theory and practice can and must intertwine to enable the caring goal of health as well-being. A conclusion that may be drawn from this study is that there is a potential for connecting ethical caring concepts and theories into practical everyday care. Nurses basic intentions for a care-giving profession, as well as hidden/forgotten theory and concepts, are viewed in this study as a possibility of turning from a pre-reflective state to a more conscious level. This study gives new nuances to the understanding that existence affects caring and caring affects existence, and contributes to the more general claim that it now is high time for ethical caring science theory to be visible and make a change in care. Highlighting the experience of existential caring intentionality, and relating the experience to theoretical caring substance, this study may contribute to the development of a more consciously ethical and individualized caring culture.

A study was performed with the aim of clarifying the integration of the caring act of touch with reflection on caring theory. Seven participant nurses in elderly care volunteered as coresearchers and performed a caring act called Rhythmical Embrocation, together with reflective dialogues on caring theory. The project lasted for 6 months and at the end qualitative interviews with participants were used to evaluate the study. The findings showed an opening of awareness, embodied moments of presence and an extended ability to act creatively in caring. In this study, the movement between theory and practice was the integration of the caring act with reflection on basic caring concepts. Implications for praxis development are that implementation and reflection by teams over certain caring acts might open the door to an expanded view of ones own caring ability that in the long run will benefit the patient.

Aim: Investigating into the possible disparity between theory and practice in caring by analysing nurses’ lived experience of the understanding of caring theory in practice in the context of municipal elderly care.

Background: Caring theories are the description and conceptualization of the care that is given in caring practise by nurses and other professional caregivers with the aim of verbalizing and communicating caring phenomena. Intermittently, a theory –practice gap is given expression- that theory does not go along with clinical practice in caring.

Method: Hermeneutical phenomenology was the research approach used to explore the lived experience of caring science theories in caring practice from the perspective of 12 nurses working in municipal care for elderly.

Findings: A detachment to caring theory was enunciated, but when describing their caring intentions, the nurses’ relationship to theory became apparent, and even confirmed their practice. As such, a seedbed exists for caring theory to be reflected on and cultivated in caring praxis. However, as the nurses describe, the caring theory must be sensitive enough for the nursing practitioners to accept. The gap revealed itself on an organisational level, as the nurses’ commission in municipal care did not correspond with their caring intention.

Conclusion: We believe it is important to seriously consider what we want to achieve as a caring profession. We have to reflect on our responsibility as culture carriers and knowledge developers. We must make the disparate forces of intention and organisation become one intertwining force.

To better understand the approach of caring in nursing and the role of theory in practice, we wanted to consolidate the empirical findings from three studies performed to reveal nurses’ caring intentions, their lived experience of reflecting caring theory in practice, with caring theory by Watson (1979, 2008).

Through a simultaneous concept analysis (SCA) of nine concepts, caring theory was consolidated with the findings of three empirical studies – to reveal the dynamics of caring theory and practice. In conclusion these nine concepts interrelate to the advanced concept mediating care. Mediating care is the visualized outcome or evidence for the intertwining of theory and practice in caring.