International Association for Human Caring (IAHC)

In 1978, the National Caring Research Conference was conceived and initiated by Dr. Madeleine Leininger. The annual conference was designed to gather scholars together to share ideas, research, and theories of care and caring.

The core philosophy of the association is based on the belief that caring is the essence of nursing and caring is the unique and unifying focus of the profession.

The national organization began in 1987 through the generosity of 42 charter members. In 1989, with the encouragement of nurses from around the world, the conference association was changed to the International Association for Human Caring (IAHC) Inc.

Purpose:
The central purpose IAHC is to provide a worldwide forum for scholars and practitioners of nursing and other disciplines to share their theoretical, research, and related experiences to advance caring science knowledge and to use this knowledge to improve human care. Toward this purpose, nurse scholars, leaders, educators, administrators, bedside and clinical nurses, student nurses, nurse artists, and professionals from other health care disciplines worldwide are invited to share their theoretical, research, and experiential knowledge, as well as their aesthetic work, at the annual IAHC conferences, in the International Journal for Human Caring, and through continual networking to advance and improve caring knowledge and practice.

Mission:
The International Association for Human Caring provides the forum for discovery, dissemination and integration of the human science and praxis of caring.

Vision:
The International Association for Human Caring members recognize caring is an interdisciplinary collaborative partnership for the well-being of humankind and appreciate multiple philosophical dimensions of caring:
• Caring is the human mode of being.
• Caring is holistic attending to body, mind, and spirit.
• Caring is the spirit of caritas - faith, hope and love that is the basis for all human communion and action.
• Caring through love connects and transforms everything in the universe.
• Caring is culturally diverse and universal and addresses both individual needs and our shared humanity.
• Caring is transcultural, the ethical relationship of love, compassion and response to suffering and need, within the dynamics of cultures, such as professional caring situations, organizations, communities, and societies.