Studying the human-environment phenomenon using the science of complexity

Abstract

The principal argument of the present article is that a new theoretical paradigm capable of facilitating the understanding of complex phenomena is necessary to study nursing's claim to its science as the science of unitary human beings, or the integrality between humans and the environment. A research study of the complex human-environment phenomenon illuminating a four-phase methodology is presented. It is argued that much can be learned by the use of the science of complexity to integrate data gleaned from different approaches to knowledge generation into a comprehensive understanding of the human being in the environment as a unified whole.