Katharine Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory

Comfort Theory Concepts

About Dr. Katherine Kolcapa

Born as Katharine Arnold on December 8th, 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio she obtained her diploma in nursing from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1965. She graduated from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University in 1987 and eventually obtained her Ph.D. in nursing and received a certificate of authority clinical nursing specialist in 1997. She published Comfort Theory and Practice: a Vision for Holistic Health Care and Research. Dr. Kolcapa continues to specialize in gerontology, end of life and Long term care interventions, comfort Studies, instrument development, nursing theory, and research.

The Comfort Theory

  • Kolcaba conducted a concept analysis of comfort that examined literature from several disciplines including nursing, medicine, psychology, psychiatry, ergonomics, and English
  • First, three types of comfort (relief, ease, transcendence) and four contexts of holistic human experience in differing aspects of therapeutic contexts were introduced. (Kolcaba KY & Kolcaba RJ, 1991)
  • A taxonomic structure was developed to guide for assessment, measurement,  and evaluation of patient comfort. (Kolcaba, 1991) A broader theory for comfort was introduced (Kolcaba KY,(1994). The theory has undergone refinement and tested for its applicability.

Concepts & Themes

Kolcaba described comfort as existing in 3 forms: relief, ease, and transcendence. Also, Kolcaba described 4 contexts in which patient comfort can occur: physical, psychospiritual, environmental, and sociocultural.

  • If specific comfort needs of a patient are met, for example, the relief of postoperative pain by administering prescribed analgesia, the individual experiences comfort in the relief sense.
  • If the patient is in a comfortable state of contentment, the person experiences comfort in the easing sense, for example, how one might feel after having issues that are causing anxiety addressed.
  • Lastly, transcendence is described as the state of comfort in which patients are able to rise above their challenges.

Major Definitions 

  • Comfort: an immediate desirable outcome of nursing care, according to Comfort Theory
  • Intervening Variables: factors that are not likely to change and over which providers have little control (such as prognosis, financial situation, the extent of social support, etc).
  • Health Care Needs: factors that are identified by the patient/family in a particular practice setting.
  • Nursing: described as the process of assessing the patient’s comfort needs, developing and implementing appropriate nursing interventions, and evaluating patient comfort following nursing interventions. Intentional assessment of comfort needs, the design of comfort measures to address those needs, and the reassessment of comfort levels after implementation. Assessment may be either objective, such as in the observation of wound healing, or subjective, such as by asking if the patient is comfortable.

Comfort Care Conceptual Framework

Additional Information & References

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