[Caring: towards an interactionist conception].

Abstract

The concept of caring evokes many images and experiences, interpersonal caring, professional caring, caring for and being cared for. In this article, we explore several conceptualizations of caring as proposed by significant philosophers and nurse scientists. The philosophical perspective of caring can be presented by two basic assertions: "Being is relating" and "Being is caring". Conceptions of caring advanced by nurse scientists can be grouped according to four epistemological models: ethnographics, humanist, feminist and phenomenological. We also present a conceptual model of caring inspired by symbolic interactionist theory. This model describes and explains caring as a psychosocial relational process based on interaction, significant or meaning, interpretation and action. These notions help us understand this essential human phenomenon situated at the heart of the nursing profession.