ABSTRACT Aim(s) To develop a comparative meta‐theory of nine caring theories by explicating their assumptions, operative mechanisms and consequences for nursing. Design Qualitative meta‐theoretical document analysis. Methods Canonical texts were analysed using an intra‐source strategy. Paginated statements were extracted and coded across assumptions, metaparadigm anchors (person, health, environment, nursing and care) and mechanisms linking caring intention to clinical action. Synthesis produced a typology and meta‐theoretical propositions. Results Caring functioned as a generative principle that reorganised person, health, environment and nursing and care into distinct practice architectures. Six mechanism‐based subfamilies were identified: transpersonal caritas; phenomenological and embodied clinical wisdom; ethical and relational caring; cultural and contextual caring; systemic and organisational caring; and operationalisable caring. Ten propositions linked assumptions to mechanisms and expected effects. Conclusion The caring school is best understood as an ordered set of non‐equivalent caring mechanisms rather than a single doctrine, supporting translation to practice design, education and congruent evaluation. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care Mechanism‐based comparison can reduce conceptual ambiguity and improve alignment between caring interventions and intended outcomes. Impact This study addresses the under‐specification of how caring theories work. It provides a comparative typology and propositions that make mechanisms explicit, informing nursing education, theory development and caring‐based practice in diverse settings. Reporting Method No EQUATOR reporting checklist is available for meta‐theoretical discursive analyses; the manuscript follows Journal of Advanced Nursing guidance for discursive papers. Patient or Public Contribution This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
Devesa et al. (2026) studied this question.