INTRODUCTION

TO NURSING
THEORY
CHAPTER 1
 (Quote of the Day)

“I attribute my success to this–

I never gave or took any
excuse.”

- Florence Nightingale
Nursing is as varied as the
people who practice it, and is
dynamic and diverse as a
kaleidoscope of ethnic,
cultural, and religious
manifestations of the people
who receive nursing care.

It is a melting- pot of the

different knowledge, creeds
and backgrounds of care and
healing that has been
collected and preserved since
the dawn of time.
 Introduction to Nursing Theory

WHAT IS A THEORY?
 WHAT IS A THEORY?

THEORY
 It is an organized system of
accepted knowledge that is
composed of concepts,
propositions, definitions and
assumptions intended to
explain a set of fact, event
or phenomena.
 WHAT IS A THEORY?

THEORY
 It is a creative and rigorous
structuring of ideas that
projects a tentative,
purposeful and systemic
view of phenomena.
- Chin and Kramer (1991)
 How Other Authors Define
Theory

THEORY
 It is an organized, coherent
set of concepts and their
relationship to each other
that offers descriptions,
explanations and
predictions about
phenomena.
- Parker (2001)
 How Other Authors Define
Theory

THEORY
 It is a set of concepts,
definitions, relationships and
assumptions that project a
systematic view of
phenomena.
- Potter (2004)
 How Other Authors Define
Theory

THEORY
 It is a supposition or system
of ideas that is proposed to
explain a given
phenomenon.
- Kozier (2008)
 Concepts/
propositions/
assumption/
THEORY PHENOMENA
definitions

SYSTEMATICALLY VIEW
ORGANIZED
 WHAT IS A NURSING THEORY?

NURSING THEORY
 It is a group of interrelated concepts
that are developed from various
studies of disciplines and related
experiences.
 This aims to view the essence of
nursing care.
 Meleis (1991) states the importance
of expressing nursing theory in
providing direction to nursing care.
 WHAT IS A NURSING THEORY?
NURSING THEORY
 According to Barnum (1994), a complete
nursing theory is one that has context, content
and process.
Components of a Theory
by Barnum (1994)
Context Resembles environment to which nursing
act takes place
Content Subject of the theory

Process Method by which nurse acts in using

nursing theory
NURSING THEORY
American Nurses
Association (ANA)
• "Nursing is the diagnosis and
treatment of human responses to
actual or potential health
problems".
Virginia Henderson
"The unique function of
the nurse is to assist the
individual, sick or well, in
the performance of those
activities contributing to
health or its recovery (or
to peaceful death)".
Florence Nightingale
“The act of utilizing the
environment of the patient
to assist him in his
recovery" (Nightingale,
1860). Nightingale
considered a clean, well-
ventilated, and quiet
environment essential for
recovery.
Association of Deans of Philippine
Colleges of Nursing (ADPCN)
“It is an art and a science of caring for
individuals, families, groups and
communities geared toward promotion
and restoration of health, prevention of
illness, alleviation of suffering and
assisting clients to face death with
dignity and peace.”
• Nursing is caring.
• Nursing is an art.
• Nursing is a science.
• Nursing is client centered.
• Nursing is holistic.
• Nursing is adaptive.
• Nursing is concerned with health
promotion, health maintenance,
and health restoration.
• Nursing is a helping profession.
THE NURSING PARADIGM
These are patterns or
models used to show a clean
relationship among the
existing theoretical works in
nursing.
 “Meta” (Greek word which
means “with”)
 “Paradigm” (Greek for “pattern”)
 It embodies the knowledge
base, theory, philosophy,
research, practice, and
educational experience and
literature identified with the
profession.
 It is the highest level of
knowledge.
 Nursing

Person Health

Environment
1. Person
- The recipient of nursing
care like individuals,
families and
communities.
Consumer
Patient
Client
A consumer is an
individual, a group of
people, or a community
that uses a service or
commodity. People who
use health care products
or services are
consumers of health
care.
• A patient is a person
who is waiting for or
undergoing medical
treatment and care. The
word patient comes from
a Latin word meaning
"to suffer" or "to bear".
Traditionally, the person
receiving health care has
been called a patient.
A client is a person who
engages the advice or
services of another who is
qualified to provide this
service. The term client
presents the receivers of
health care as collaborators
in the care, that is, as people
who are also responsible for
their own health.
2. Environment
- The external and internal
aspects of life that
influence the person.
3. Health
- The holistic level of
wellness that the person
experiences.
4. Nursing
- The interventions of the
nurse rendering care in
support of, or in
cooperation with the client.
CLASSIFICATION OF
NURSING THEORIES
Descriptive Theories
- Aka Factor- Isolating
Theories
- They identify and describe
major concepts of
phenomena.
- The purpose is to present a
phenomenon based on the
five senses together with
their corresponding
meaning.
Explanatory Theories
- Aka Factor- Relating
Theories
- They present relationship
among concepts and
propositions.
- The purpose is to provide
information on how or why
concepts are related.
- E.g. cause and effect
relationship
Predictive Theories
- Aka Situation- Relating
Theories
- These are achieved when
the relationships of
concepts under a certain
condition are able to
describe future outcomes
consistently.
- Tested using Experimental
research
Prescriptive Theories
- Aka Situation- Producing
Theories
- Deal with nursing actions,
and test the validity and
certainty of a specific
nursing intervention
- Commonly used in testing
new nursing interventions
 CONCEPTUAL AND
THEORETICAL MODELS
- Is the building block of
theories
- It can come from an
empirical phenomena or any
abstraction of how a person
perceived an object that is
not physically present or
observed.
- It enhances one’s capacity
to understand phenomena.
1. Abstract concepts

- Indirectly observed or
intangible
- Independent of time and
place
- E.g. love, care, freedom
2. Concrete concepts

- directly observed or tangible

- E.g. nurse, mother, pain
 These are highly
established set of concepts
that are testable.
 It is a structure of concepts
which exist or tested in the
literature, a ready- made
map for the study.
 These are representations
of an idea or body of
knowledge based on the
own understanding or
perception of a person or
researcher on a certain
topic, phenomena, or
theory.
 Defined as sets of empirical
data or experiences that can
be physically observed or
tangible (e.g. crying or
grimacing when in pain).
 All natural events that the
human person can perceive.
 Clinical or environmental setting
of nursing (e.g. health center)
 Disease process (e.g. diabetes
mellitus)
 Client’s behavior (e.g. guarding
behavior at the pain site)
 Interventions (care of the client
in pain)
 Practices that are utilized in
nursing theories and
metaparadigms (person,
nursing, health and
environment)