NURSING THEORISTS’ BIOGRAPHY AND THEIR THEORY

Henderson’s Nursing Need Theory

BIOGRAPHY
Virginia Henderson was born on November
30, 1897, in Kansas City, Missouri, and was the fifth of
eight children in her family. In 1921, Henderson
graduated from the Army School of Nursing at Walter
Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. In 1932, she
earned her Bachelor’s Degree and in 1934 earned her
Master’s Degree in Nursing Education, both from
Teachers College at Columbia University. Henderson
died on March 19, 1996, in Connecticut Hospice,
Branford, Connecticut, United States.

THEORY
Nursing Need Theory
 It emphasizes the importance of patient independence so that the patient will continue to
progress after being released from the hospital.
Terms Used…
 Henderson described the role of the nurse as one of the following:
A. Substitutive, which is doing something for the patient.
B. Supplementary, which is helping the patient do something.
C. Complementary, which is working with the patient to do something.

 The Fourteen Components of Henderson’s concept are as follows:

1. Breathe normally.
2. Eat and drink Adequately
3. Eliminate body wastes.
4. Move and maintain desirable postures.
5. Sleep and rest.
6. Select suitable clothes-dress and undress.
7. Maintain body temperature within normal range by adjusting clothing and modifying
environment.
8. Keep the body clean and well-groomed and protect the integument.
9. Avoid dangers in the environment and avoid injuring others.
10. Communicate with others in expressing emotions, needs, fears, or opinions.
11. Worship according to one’s faith.
12. Work in such a way that there is a sense of accomplishment.
13. Play or participate in various forms of recreation.
14. Learn, discover, or satisfy the curiosity that leads to normal development and health and
use the available health facilities.
 “The uniqueness 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)
that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge.”
Leininger’s Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality
BIOGRAPHY
Madeleine Leninger was born on July 13, 1925 in Sutton,
Nebraska. She earned several degrees, including a Doctor of
Philosophy, a Doctor of Human Sciences, a Doctor of Science, and
is a Registered Nurse. She is a Certified Transcultural Nurse, a
Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing in Australia, and a Fellow of
the American Academy of Nursing. Leininger died on August 10,
2012, in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.

THEORY
Transcultural Theory
 A study of cultures to understand both similarities and
differences in patient groups. Culture is a set of beliefs held
by a certain group of people, handed down from generation
to generation.
Terms Used…
 Nurses practice according to the patient’s cultural considerations:
I. Culturalogical assessment, which takes the patient’s cultural background into
consideration in assessing the patient and his or her health.
II. Create a nursing care plan that also takes the patient’s cultural background into
consideration.
 Benefits for nurses to use cultural knowledge of patients to treat them:
I. Helps nurses to be aware of ways in which the patient’s culture and faith system.
II. Helps nurses to be understanding and respectful of the diversity.
III. Helps strengthen a nurse’s commitment to nursing based on nurse-patient relationships
and emphasizing the whole person.
IV. Using cultural knowledge to treat a patient that helps a nurse to be open minded to
treatments that can be considered non-traditional.
 Three nursing decisions and actions that achieve culturally friendly care for the patient:
1. Cultural preservation or maintenance
2. Cultural care accomodation or negotiation
3. Cultural care repatterning or restructuring
A. Nursing assessment of the patient includes a self-assessment that addresses how the nurse
is affected by his or her own cultural background.
B. Nursing diagnosis of the patient should include any problems that may come up that
involve the healthcare environment and the patient’s cultural background.
C. Nurse’s care plan should involve aspects of the patient’s cultural background when
needed.
D. nurse’s evaluation should include a self-evaluation of attitudes toward caring for patients
from differing cultural backgrounds.
 “The purpose of transcultural nursing is to discover and establish a body of knowledge
and skills focused on transcultural care, health (or well-being), and illness in order to
assist nurses giving culturally competent, safe, and congruent care to people of diverse
cultures worldwide”
Maslow’s Human Needs Theory
BIOGRAPHY
Abraham Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn,
New York, where he grew up the first of seven children born to his
Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia. Maslow studied law at
City College of New York. After developing an interest in
psychology, he switched to the University of Wisconsin and found a
mentor in psychologist Harry Harlow who served as his doctoral
advisor. Maslow earned all three of his degrees in psychology (a
bachelor's, master's, and doctorate) from the University of
Wisconsin. Maslow died on June 8, 1970, in Menlo Park, California,
United States.

THEORY
Human Needs Theory
 The theory suggests that once nurses’ basic needs are met,
their focus will shift toward achieving higher level needs,
including their sense of belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.
 It aims to meet basic needs
 Represented by a pyramid with five levels of needs.
 The (Original) Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs includes:
A. Self-Actualization needs
B. Esteem needs
C. Belongingness needs
D. Safety needs
E. Physiological needs
 B and D Needs:
I. The first four levels are considered deficiency or deprivation needs.
II. The first level is considered growth or being needs.
 The Expanded Hierarchy Needs includes:
A. Transcendence needs
B. Self-Actualization needs
C. Aesthetic needs
D. Cognitive needs
E. Esteem needs
e.i. esteem for oneself
e.ii. desire for reputation or respect from others
F. Love and Belongingness needs
G. Safety needs
H. Physiological needs

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen
again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”
 Sullivan’s Transactional Analysis
BIOGRAPHY
Henry Stack Sullivan who also known by the name Harry
Stack-Sullivan was born on February 21, 1892 in Norwich, New
York to Irish immigrant parents. His social isolation as a child may
have contributed his later interest in psychiatry. After graduating
from the Smyrna Union School, he spent two years at Cornell
University, beginning in 1909. In 1917, Stack-Sullivan earned his
medical degree from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery.
Stack-Sullivan died on January 14, 1949, in Paris, France.

THEORY
Transactional Analysis Theory
 Explained the role of interpersonal relationships and social
experiences in shaping personality
 It states that the purpose of all behavior is to get needs met through interpersonal interactions
and to decrease or avoid anxiety.
 The theory identifies six developmental stages called “epochs” or “heuristic stages in
development which are the following:
A. Infancy (birth to 18 months)
B. Childhood (18 months to 6 years)
C. Juvenile era (6 to 9 years)
D. Preadolescence (9 to 12 years)
E. Early adolescence (12 to 14 years)
F. Late adolescence (14 to 21 years)
 Three types of Self includes:
1. The “good me”
2. The “bad me”
The “good me” versus the “bad me” is based on social appraisal and the anxiety that results
from negative feedback.
3. The “not me”
The “not me” refers to the unknown, repressed aspect of the self.

“The psychiatric interviewer is supposed to be doing three things: considering what the
patient could mean by what he says; considering how he himself can best phrase what he
wishes to communicate to the patient; and, at the same time, observing the general pattern of
the events being communicated. In addition to that, to make notes which will be of more than
evocative value, or come anywhere near being a verbatim record of what is said, in my opinion
is beyond the capacity of most human beings.”