Journal of Holistic Nursing

Creativity is required for solving many of the problems that face the health care system. As a group, caregivers tend to underestimate their own creativity and its potential impact on the systems in which they work. This article reviews common misconceptions about creativity and describes forces that erode its expression. Suggestions are made for how creativity can be increased within traditional-practice settings. Steps in a creative process are reviewed as well as internal and external factors that support the occurrence of creative moments. The benefits to be gained from increased creativity range from practical improvements within the system to personal gratification for individual caregivers.

This article discusses the therapeutic use of drawings, outlines a specific drawing technique, and describes two case illustrations. Emphasis is placed on the healing quality of the drawing experience, a creative process in and of itself. These case illustrations were derived from an interpretive study in which life history and drawing methods were used to gather a holistic description about the experiences of women living with HIV disease. By making drawings depicting their illness, the ten women were offered another way to express and communicate their experiences, revealing rich descriptions that may not have been obtained by interviews alone. The drawings allowed the women to explore feelings that are often difficult to verbalize, offering additional insights about their worldview. For the practitioner, the use of drawings can therefore be a valuable tool to further understand a client, assess needs, and formulate a more inclusive approach to care.

A model is proposed that suggests new directions for achieving well-being that meet the emergent self-transformational needs of individuals. The Rainbow Model is a systematic framework for showing the relationship between approaches to health and total, whole-of-life development, including the spiritual dimension. It uses the colors of the rainbow and the chakras to denote progressively expansive understandings and actions regarding wellness and health care. Red, the longest wavelength, corresponds to one's present state of health or disease. Orange reflects a concern with reducing risk factors. Yellow, the third wavelength, signifies a rational approach to health: Beliefs and habits of thinking are examined. Green means health through emotional balance, supportive relationships, and values that support health. Blue is the layer of health through involvement with one's higher purpose. Indigo is the wavelength of health through metaphysical awareness, and violet, the shortest wavelength, shows health to be most profound when one attains universal consciousness: the sense of unity with all life.

The purpose of this article is to describe the concept of valuing through defining and developing the essential elements of the valuing process. The valuing process relates to structuring the meaning of individual health. This concept is related to a nursing theory put forth by both Rogers and Parse. In addition, implications of the valuing process in nursing for quality health care are given.

Human creativity uses what is already available, changing it in unpredictable ways. Creativity is an option to client, caregiver, and institution. It is likely to occur in the open mode of thinking, where alertness, relaxation, and playfulness coexist. Humor is a desirable avenue to creative thinking for health promotion. The release and relaxation of humor benefits client and caregiver both physiologically and psychologically. Tension eases for patients, while nurses gain a new sense of control through the use of their own sense of humor. Fifty preoperative patients were surveyed on the use of humor education as a form of stress reduction. After surgery, the patients were told one-liners prior to administration of potentially painful topical medication. All perceived less pain. Humor rooms are spaces in hospitals which encourage the therapeutic use of humor. This is a unique holistic option to promote creative thinking of the staff while it enhances the healing of the patient.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between chronic pain and a healthy sense of humor in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. It was hypothesized that women with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis who scored higher on the sense of humor scales would have a lower score on the pain scale. Likewise, if a lower score was obtained on the humor scales, it was expected that the subject would have a higher pain score. The sample population consisted of 30 women from the Northeast section of the United States, randomly chosen, between the ages of 33 and 66 years, diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The results of this study showed a significant positive correlation (r = .31, p < .01) between humor and pain, which was contrary to the stated hypothesis. Findings also showed that, except for age, there were no significant relationships between the demographic data and the subjects' perception of pain or humor. It was found that age was negatively correlated with both humor and pain. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed, and nurses are encouraged to consider all the functions of humor in working with patients.

Creativity facilitates the continuous expansion of nurses' interpretations of their nursing practice and is the essence of holistic care. In this study, the concept of creativity was explored by addressing the question, "When student nurses are given complete freedom to design nursing care for a patient, what types of activities will they include? " The students were provided with a case scenario involving a comatose Native American male patient and asked to complete an "Exercise to Stretch Your Mind." Forty-eight students completed the exercise for a total of 343 responses. Qualitative data analysis was completed, and the nursing process was used to conceptually link the patterns of interventions that emerged. These interventions involved using the sensory modalities of physical and emotional feeling, hearing, and smelling to provide contextual experiences for the patient to connect and reconnect with himself. The connecting context included six areas: the outside, his nurse, his family, his spirit, the familiar, and the future.