The ethical theory of existential authenticity: the lived experience of the art of caring in nursing administration.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to conduct a study of the art of caring in nursing administration. By means of a phenomenologic-hermeneutic approach, the caring experiences of six nurse administrators were revealed and analyzed. Essential themes emerged from their descriptions of their experiences. Interpretation of the data served as the lens through which the expressions of the art of caring related to archetypical philosophies of art living form, imitation, and expression. An ethical theory, Existential Authenticity, was uncovered as the unity of meaning of nursing administrative caring art. This unity of meaning embodied statespersonship, which was viewed by Plato as the highest form of art. Implications for the transformation of nursing administrative practice as an ethical caring enterprise by the manifestation of statespersonship are presented.