Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory
Kelly Henderson
Professional Transition I/HSC-175
September 30, 2013
Mrs. Suzanne Boese, RN-BC, PHN, MSN/Ed

Explanation of the Comfort Theory The origin of the word nurse is derived from the Latin word nutricius, meaning “(person) that nourishes” (Merriam-Webster, 2013). Historically, the concept of comfort was recognized as an essential praxis of nursing because of antiquated medical practices and the lack of development of medications. Often times, comfort was all a nurse could provide. Presently, the progression of medicine has allowed us to focus on healing and curing our patients. While coordinating care and interventions, nurses often feel overwhelmed by the tenacity of the tasks required to return their patients to homeostasis. What they often overlook, is what their patients still desire the most—comfort. Although comfort has always been a defining characteristic within the nursing profession, the true meaning of the concept is subjective—per the patient’s perspective. Recognizing this, nursing scholar, Dr. Katharine Kolcaba developed the comfort theory. She defines comfort as “the immediate experience of being strengthened by having needs for relief, ease, and transcendence met in four contexts (physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural, and environmental)” (Kolcaba, 2003). Kolcaba further clarifies “relief as the state of having a specific comfort met; ease as the state of calm and contentment; and transcendence as the state in which one can rise above their problems or pain” (Kolcaba, 2003).
The comfort theory goes on to state the context in which comfort occurs:
Physical—pertaining to bodily sensations, homeostatic mechanisms, immune function, etc.
Psychospiritual—pertaining to internal awareness of self, including esteem, identity, sexuality, meaning in one’s life, and one’s understood relationship to a higher