Caring Science, Mindful Practice

Kathleen Sitzman, PhD, RN, CNE, is Professor and Associate Dean, Undergraduate Nursing Science, at Eastern Carolina University (NC), USA. Dr. Sitzman has been a nurse since 1983 and has used her extensive experience to produce scholarly work that contributes to the nursing profession and body of knowledge on international, national, state, community, and local levels. She has been Co-PI or PI on ten research projects, several of which focused on nursing students' perception of caring online. She has received numerous awards for her scholarship, mentorship, and teaching, including the Jean Watson Award for outstanding scholarship in caring science from the International Association for Human Caring (2007-2008). Dr. Sitzman has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and has co-authored two textbooks: Understanding the Work of Nurse Theorists: A Creative Beginning (2nd Edition (2011) and Nursing history: Trends and Eras (2010). Jean Watson, PhD, RN, HNC, FAAN, is Distinguished Professor Emerita and Dean Emerita of the School of Nursing at the University of Colorado, USA. She is founder of the Center for Human Caring in Colorado, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and past-president of the National League for Nursing. She is a widely published author and recipient of several awards and honours, including an international Kellogg Fellowship in Australia, a Fulbright Research Award in Sweden, and five honorary doctoral degrees, including Honorary International Doctor of Science awards from Goteborg University in Sweden and from Luton University, UK. Clinical nurses and academic programmes throughout the world use her published works on the philosophy and theory of human caring and the art and science of caring in nursing. Dr. Watson's caring philosophy is used to guide new models of caring and healing practices in diverse settings worldwide. At University of Colorado, Dr. Watson holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Nursing, the highest honour accorded its faculty for scholarly work. In 1998-99 she assumed that nation's first endowed chair in Caring Science, based at the University of Colorado.