Meta-synthesis of qualitative analyses of caring: defining a therapeutic model of nursing.

Documenting and understanding caring are essential to explain client outcomes from nursing actions and to predict client well-being and health. To prepare for development of an outcomes-based operational model of caring, metasynthesis provided a method to aggregate findings from 16 qualitative studies on caring. Four essential, dynamic patterns emerged for a state-of-the-science description of nurses' caring from the patient perspective: interaction, knowledge, intentional response, and therapeutic outcomes. The patterns with their explanatory themes defined caring within the content, context, process, and outcomes of an operational model, providing the structure for research into the therapeutics of caring that will advance nursing practice.