What’s in a Definition? Holistic Nursing, Integrative Health Care, and Integrative Nursing: Report of an Integrated Literature Review

Background: Nurses and others have used various terms to describe our caring/healing approach to practice. Because terms used can influence our image of ourselves and the image others have of us, we sought to clarify their meanings. Questions: How are the terms holistic nursing, integrative health c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of holistic nursing 2019-09, Vol.37 (3), p.260-272
Main Authors: Frisch, Noreen Cavan, Rabinowitsch, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Delivery of Health Care, Integrated - classification
Delivery of Health Care, Integrated - methods
Delivery of Health Care, Integrated - trends
Healing
Health care
Holistic approach
Holistic medicine
Holistic nursing
Holistic Nursing - classification
Holistic Nursing - methods
Holistic Nursing - trends
Humans
Integrated care
Integrative medicine
Literature reviews
Meaning
Mind and body
Nursing
Professional practice
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Summary:Background: Nurses and others have used various terms to describe our caring/healing approach to practice. Because terms used can influence our image of ourselves and the image others have of us, we sought to clarify their meanings. Questions: How are the terms holistic nursing, integrative health care, and integrative nursing defined or described? Do we identify with these definitions/descriptions? Are the various terms the same or are they distinct? Method: We conducted an integrated review of peer-reviewed literature following the process described by Whittemore and Knafl. Using standard search methods, we reviewed full texts of 94 published papers and extracted data from 58 articles. Findings: Holistic describes “whole person care” often acknowledging body–mind–spirit. Holistic nursing defines a disciplinary practice specialty. The term integrative refers to practice that includes two or more disciplines or distinct approaches to care. Both terms, integrative and holistic, are associated with alternative/complementary modalities and have similar philosophical and/or theoretical underpinnings. Conclusions: There is considerable overlap between holistic nursing and integrative nursing. The relationship of integrative nursing to integrative health care is unclear based solely on definitions. Consideration of terms used provides opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and growth.
ISSN:0898-0101
1552-5724
DOI:10.1177/0898010119860685