Katharine Kolcabas Theory of Comfort

Chapter 21
Katharine Kolcabas Theory of Comfort

Developed by S . Gordon (2010)

Updated by D. Gullett (2014)

On completion of this chapter, students will be able to:
Describe Kolcabas Theory of Comfort care.

Identify the theorists who influenced the development of Comfort theory.

Define the terms comfort, comforting care, comfort management, and comfort interventions from the perspective of Comfort Theory.

Discuss the meaning of Comfort Theory for practice.

Identify the different tools used to measure comfort.

Discuss the propositions of Comfort Theory and their application to practice.

Define the theoretical definitions of diagram concepts for the Comfort Theory.

Overview of the Theorist

Katherine Kolcaba
Born/educated in Cleveland, Ohio
Received a diploma in nursing
Graduated 1st RN-MSN class at Case Western
Joined Faculty of University of Akron
Associate Professor Emeritus at University Akron
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Overview (continued)

Practice focused on gerontology and dementia care
Framework for dementia care (1992)
Diagrammed aspects of comfort (1991)
Operationalized comfort as an outcome of care (1992)
Published book Comfort Theory and Practice (2003)
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Overview of Comfort Theory (CT)

Comfort defined as:
Noun
Adjective
Outcome of intentional, patient/family-focused quality care
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Comfort: To strengthen greatly
The need for comfort is basic.
Persons experience comfort holistically.
Self-comforting measures can be healthy or unhealthy.
Enhanced comfort leads to greater productivity.
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Kolcaba Influenced by

Orlando
Synthesized relief
Nurses relieve needs
Henderson
Synthesized ease
13 basic functions of human beings
Paterson and Zderad
Transcendence
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Four Contexts of Patient Comfort

Physical
Psychospiritual
Sociocultural
Environmental
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Outcome of Comfort

The immediate experience of being strengthened when needs for relief, ease and transcendence are met in 4 contexts of experience.
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Uses of Comfort Taxonomic Structure

Determine the existence and extent of unmet comfort needs
Design comforting interventions
Create measurements of holistic comfort
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Propositions of Comfort Theory

Part I
Effective comforting interventions result in increased comfort for recipients (patients and families) when compared to a preintervention baseline.
Part II
Increased comfort of recipients results in their being strengthened for their tasks ahead (health-seeking behaviors).
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Propositions of Comfort Theory

Part III:
Increased engagement in health-seeking behaviors results in increased Institutional Integrity.Completethis week’s assigned readings, chapters 21&22.Aftercompleting the readings, post a short reflection, approximately 1 paragraph in length, discussing your thoughts andopinions aboutone or several of thespecific theories covered in thereadings.
As a reminder, no scholarly sources are required and students do not have to reply to a classmate’s original post. This post does not have an end date but please make an effort to complete your post before next week’s discussion post is posted and/or due in order to avoid falling behind.

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