Philosophy

 From Greek, by way of Latin, philosophia, “love of wisdom”

 The rational, abstract, and methodical consideration of reality as a
whole or fundamental dimensions of human existence and
experience.
 The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and
existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline
 Is a way of thinking about certain subjects such as ethics, thought,
existence, time, meaning, and value.
 That ‘way of thinking’ involves 4Rs
 Responsiveness
 Reflection
 Reason
 Re-evaluation

Philosophers
Plato – founders of western religion and spiritually
Aristotle – “Father of western philosophy”

What is a Concept?
 Ideas or thoughts
 Building blocks of theories
 Symbolic statement describing a phenomenon or group of
phenomena
 Formulated in words to be able to communicate meanings about
realities in the world or give meaning to phenomena that can be
directly seen
 Two types of Concept:
  Abstract – mentally constructed independent of a specific
time or place (hope, love, and faith)
 Concrete – are directly experienced and relate to a particular
time (air, weight, and temperature)

Concepts can be formulated:

 A word – grief, empathy, pain
 Two words – patient’s satisfaction
 Phrase –

Concepts can also be variable or non-variable:

Variable
 Continuous
 Concepts that describe phenomena according to some dimensions,
permits, classification, or graduation of phenomena
Non-variable
 Discrete
 Concepts that identifies categories or classes of phenomena. For
example, gender, ethnic background, religion, and marital status.
Sources of Concepts:
Naturalistic
 Seen in nature or in nursing practice such as body weight,
thermoregulation, hematologic complications, depression
Researched Based Concepts
 are results of conceptual development
Theory
 Systematic explanation of an event in which constructs and
concepts are identified and relationships are proposed and
predictions are made

Historical Perspective of Theory Development

 Nursing theory has been a prevalent theme in nursing literature for
the past 30 year
 It was F.N. who envisioned nurses as a body of educated nurse
 Her vision-establishment of home of nursing at ST. Thomas
hospital in London Start of Modern Nursing
 20th Century nursing began with strong emphasis on practice

Examples of Theories:
Non-Nursing
 Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud – ID, Ego, Superego)
 ID – original system of personality that matrix in which ego and
superego differentiate
 Ego – follow reality principle, has control behavior, and control
over cognitive functions
 Superego – strive for perfection and focuses on moral issues
(“what is right and what is wrong”)
Nursing
Major Concepts: Person, Health, Nursing, Environment + Key Concepts
= Nursing Theory

Levels of Nursing Theory

NURSING METAPARADIGM

GRAND THEORIES

MIDDLE-RANGE THEORIES

PRACTICE LEVEL
THEORIES