1. Newman’s Theory of
Health as Expanding
Consciousness
Margaret A. Newman, RN, PhD
Professor Emeritus
1933 to Present

2. This work done by
Students of Master
Degree In Nursing
Husain M.Altemimie

3. Margaret Newman's
Biography
Born on October 10, 1933, in Memphis,
Tennessee.
Bachelor’s degree in home economics and
English In 1954.
Bachelor’s degree in nursing - University of
Tennessee in 1962.
Master’s degree - University of California in
1964.
Doctorate - New York University in 1971.
She has worked in - University of Tennessee,
New York University, Pennsylvania State

4. INTRODUCTION
The theory of health as expanding
consciousness stimulated by concern for those
for whom health as the absence of disease or
disability is not possible, (Newman, 2010).
The theory has progressed to include the health
of all persons regardless of the presence or
absence of disease, (Newman, 2010).
The theory asserts that every person in every
situation, no matter how disordered and
hopeless it may seem, is part of the universal
process of expanding consciousness, (Newman,
2010).

5. Theoretical Sources
1. Martha Rogers: Martha Roger’s theory of
Unitary Human Beings was the main basis of
the development of her theory, Health as
Expanding Consciousness.
2. Itzhak Bentov – The concept of evolution of
consciousness.
3. Arthur Young – The Theory of Process.
4. David Bohm – The Theory of Implicate.
5. Prigogine – Theory of Dissipative Structure.

6. Arthur Young's’ The Theory of Process

7. Prigogine's Theory of Dissipative
Structure

8. Major Assumptions
1. Health encompasses conditions heretofore
described as illness.
2. These pathological conditions can be
considered a manifestation of the total pattern
of the individual.
3. The pattern of the individual that eventually
manifests itself as pathology is primary and
exists prior to structural or functional changes.
4. Removal of the pathology in itself will not
change the pattern of the individual.
5. Health is an expansion of consciousness.

9. Major Concepts
1)Health:
• In Newman’s theory, health is an expansion of
consciousness defined as the informational
capacity of the system and seen as the ability of
the person to interact with the environment
(Newman, 1994a). According to Newman
(1999), “Health is the pattern of the whole, and
wholeness is One cannot lose it or gain it”.

10. Major Concepts Cont.
2) Consciousness:
• Consciousness includes not only the cognitive
and affective awareness normally associated
with consciousness, but also the
interconnectedness of the entire living system,
which includes physiochemical maintenance and
growth processes as well as the immune
system. This pattern of information, which is the
consciousness of the system, is part of a larger,
undivided pattern of an expanding universe.

11. Major Concepts Cont.
3) Pattern:
• Pattern characterized by “movement, diversity,
and rhythm” and is described as a “design, or
framework as is seen in person-environment
interactions”
• Pattern recognition is the “insight or
recognition of a principle, realization of a truth,
or reconciliation of a duality” and is “key to the
process of evolving to a higher level of
consciousness”.
Three Correlates of Consciousness(Movement-
Space-Time):
• Pattern has dimensions of movement and

12. Parallel between Newman’s theory of expanding
consciousness and Young’s stages of human
evolution

13. The paradigm shift
1. From treatment of symptoms to a search for
pattern.
2. From viewing disease and disruption as
negative to viewing them as part of the self-
organizing process of expanding
consciousness.
3. From viewing the nursing role as addressing,
the problems of disease to assisting people to
get in touch with their own pattern of expanding
consciousness.

14. Nursing Metaparadigms
1)Health:
“Health and illness are synthesized as health - the
fusion on one state of being (disease) with its
opposite (non-disease) results in what can be
regarded as health”.
2)Nursing:
• Nursing is “caring in the human health
experience”.
• Nursing is seen as a partnership between the
nurse and client, with both grow in the “sense of
higher levels of consciousness”.

15. Nursing Metaparadigms cont.
Nurse and patient coming together and moving apart in process
recognition, insight, and transformation

16. Nursing Metaparadigms cont.
3) Person/Human:
A. The human is unitary, that is cannot be divided
into parts, and is inseparable from the larger
unitary field”
B. “Persons as individuals ،and human beings as a
species are identified by their patterns of
consciousness” …
C. Persons are “centers of consciousness” within
an overall pattern of expanding consciousness”.
4) Environment: Environment is described as a
“universe of open systems”. Environment is
built upon Roger’s definition.

17. Strengths and
Weaknesses1) Strengths:
•Can be applied in any setting.
•“Generates caring interventions”.
2) Weaknesses:
•Abstract.
•Multi-dimensional.
•Qualitative.
•Little discussion on environment.

18. Critique
1. Clarity.
2. Simplicity.
3. Generality.
4. Empirical Precision.
5. Derivable Consequences.

19. Conclusion
Newman's theory can be conceptualized
as
1) A grand theory of nursing.
2) Humans cannot be divided into parts.
3) Health is central to the theory and is seen
“and is seen as a process of developing
awareness of self and the environment”
4) “Consciousness is a manifestation of an
evolving pattern of person-environment
interaction”.

20. References
• Martha, R. Alligood, (2014). Nursing Theorists and Their Work.
8th ed. Missouri: Elsevier.
• Marilyn E.Parker, (2005). Nursing theories an nursing practice.
2nd ed. Philadelphia: Davis company.
• http://currentnursing.com/
• http://healthasexpandingconsciousness.org/