Josephine Paterson and Loretta Zderad

Dr. Josephine Paterson is originally from the east coast and Dr. Loretta Zderad is from the mid-west. They both were graduates of diploma schools and subsequently earned their bachelor's degree in Nursing Education. Dr. Paterson did her graduate work at Johns Hopkins and Dr. Zderad did hers at Catholic University. In the mid-fifties they were both employed at The Catholic University and were assigned the task of working together to create a new program that would encompass the community health component and the psychiatric component of the graduate program. Subsequently they developed a collaboration and dialogue and friendship that have lasted for almost 40 years.
Josephine Paterson and Loretta Zderad retired in 1985 and moved South where they are currently enjoying life. Although they are no longer active, they are pleased at the on going interest in their theory.

• Humanistic Nursing Theory Website  Authored by Karen Decker-Brown RN

Susan Kleiman
PhD;RN;CS;NP

Assistant Professor of Nursing Lehman College City University of New York. Dr.Susan Kleiman is the standard-bearer of Humanistic Nursing Theory as formulated, articulated, and handed down by Josephine Paterson and Loretta Zderad who have both retired. Susan Kleiman has been handed the task of mentoring their nursing theory. Many of Paterson's and Zderad's unpublished papers and personal interviews are in Susan Kleimans’ possession. She offers meta-theoretical discussion and welcomes questions about the many concepts of Humanistic Nursing Theory, which is based on the idea that the defining event in nursing is the interaction between the patient and nurse (Paterson & Zderad, 1976).

• Humanistic Nursing Theory - Dr.Susan Kleiman

• Humanistic Nursing Theory - Humanistic nursing practice theory proposes phenomenology, a descriptive approach to participants in the nursing situation as a method for studying, interpreting, and attesting the nature and meaning of the lived events...Words and conceptualized ideas are the tools of phenomenology.