1150254
editorial2023
NSQXXX10.1177/08943184221150254Nursing Science QuarterlyParse
Editorial
Are the Extant Nursing Theories
Endangered Species?
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, RN; PhD; FAAN1
Keywords
nursing theories, PhD program content, theory-guided research and practice
Are the extant nursing theories endangered species? Some
nurse leaders think so. A cursory review of major nursing
journals reveals the conspicuous absence of articles using
nursing theories as guides to research and practice. These
articles are often written by seasoned scholars and doctoral
students in nursing, yet nursing science is absent. How can
this be when PhD students are being prepared to be knowl-
edge builders for the discipline and their teachers are the sea-
soned scholars?
This question took center stage in a recent international
gathering of nurse researchers and theoreticians. Participants
agreed that nursing PhD graduates are the knowledge build-
ers and gatekeepers for the future of the discipline of nursing,
yet they are not being taught nursing science. The main ques-
tion was what has happened to those well-established, unique
theoretical perspectives that were designed to guide nursing
research and practice, and provide the grounding of a disci-
pline distinct from medicine? The ensuing dialogue demon-
strated the keen awareness of scholars worldwide regarding
the curriculum content of nursing PhD programs. Most par-
ticipants agreed that distinct nursing theory courses had
either been eliminated or combined with research courses,
and these research courses were not focused on nursing sci-
ence. The participants were concerned that the core of nurs-
ing knowledge is no longer the focus of PhD nursing
education. Some persons reported that the theoretical and
research courses were not about nursing at all, but rather
already focused on genetics, precision health, symptom sci-
ence, symptom analysis, omics, sensor technology, big data,
other aspects of medicine, and ancillary disciplines. The fac-
ulty in certain institutions guide students to conduct research
in these areas, since government grant funding priorities are
focused there. Should government funding priorities be the
major content of the PhD in nursing courses? (This is not to
say that nurses should not be knowledgeable about these
areas of medicine, but they should know that these are
aspects of medicine and not nursing science).
Nursing Science Quarterly
2023, Vol. 36(2) 109­
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/08943184221150254
https://doi.org/10.1177/08943184221150254
journals.sagepub.com/home/nsq
Who makes curriculum decisions? In all university sys-
tems it is the faculty and administrators of nursing programs
who make curriculum decisions. These same faculty and
administrators promulgate the use of theories from other dis-
ciplines to guide nursing research for PhD dissertations.
What is wrong with this picture?
What is the uniqueness of nursing as a discipline when
medical science content has replaced the nursing theories
and frameworks in PhD programs? The extant theories and
frameworks concretized nursing as a unique discipline dif-
ferent from medicine in the 20th century. Can nursing now
be distinguished from medicine when the content of PhD
programs is bereft of extant nursing theories and frame-
works? What is the meaning of a PhD in nursing, if the
focus is on medicine and other ancillary content? Who will
answer these questions? Are extant nursing theories endan-
gered species?
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to
the authorship and/or publication of this review.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the authorship and/or
publication of this review.
ORCID iD
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3037-1382
1
Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Editor:
Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, RN; PhD; FAAN; Distinguished Professor
Emeritus, Loyola University Chicago, 320 Fort Duquesne Blvd, #25H,
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1121, USA.
Email: rrparse@aol.com