DOROTHY JOHNSON

BEHAVIORAL THEORY
DOROTHY JOHNSON
DOROTHY JOHNSON
• Early life
• Dorothy E. Johnson was born August 21, 1919, in Savannah, Georgia.
• Dorothy Marie Johnson was the only child of Lester Eugene Johnson
(December 20, 1870–December 13, 1915) and Mary Louisa Johnson (née
Barlow, December 30, 1879–December 28, 1960). In March 1913 her
family moved to Whitefish in Northwest Montana.
• She always considered Whitefish to be her home town, and later wrote a
memoir of her early years there: "When You and I Were Young, Whitefish,"
published in 1982. She was appointed to the lifetime position of
Whitefish's honorary chief of police.
• It was while she was a student at Whitefish High School that she began
her professional writing career.
Professional life
• Her writing career began to take off by the 1930s. In
1935 her story Beulah Bunny was published and began a
series of four stories. Her writing was temporarily
detoured by World War II as she went to work for the Air
Warden Service. After the war she produced some of her
best known Western stories. These include The Man
Who Shot Liberty Valance in 1949 and
A Man Called Horse. These two stories would later be
filmed.
Historical source

• Past observational studies and general

system theory influenced Dorothy
Johnson
in the development of her Behavioral
System Model
Johnson’s behavior system model
• In 1968 Dorothy first proposed her model of nursing
care as fostering of “the efficient and effective
behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness".
• She also stated that nursing was “concerned with man
as an integrated whole and this is the specific
knowledge of order we require”.
• In 1980 Johnson published her conceptualization of
“behavioral system of model for nursing” this is the first
work of Dorothy that explicates her definitions of the
behavioral system model.
Definition of nursing
• She defined nursing as “an external
regulatory force which acts to preserve
the organization and integration of the
patients behaviors at an optimum level
under those conditions in which the
behaviors constitutes a threat to the
physical or social health, or in which
illness is found”
Assumptions of behavioral system model
There are 4 assumptions of system
• First assumption states that there is “organization, interaction,
interdependency and integration of the parts and elements of behaviors
that go to make up The system ” 
• A system “tends to achieve a balance among the various forces
operating within and upon it', and that man strive continually to
maintain a behavioral system balance and steady state by more or less
automatic adjustments and adaptations to the natural forces impinging
upon him.”
• A behavioral system, which both requires and results in
some degree of regularity and constancy in behavior, is
essential to man that is to say, it is functionally
significant in that it serves a useful purpose, both in
social life and for the individual.
• The final assumption states “system balance reflects
adjustments and adaptations that are successful in
some way and to some degree .”
Each subsystem has three functional
requirements
• System must be “protected" from noxious influences
with which system cannot cope”.
• Each subsystem must be “nurtured” through the input
of appropriate supplies from the environment.
• Each subsystem must be “stimulated” for use to
enhance growth and prevent stagnation
Representation of Johnson's Model
Goal ----- Set --- Choice of Behavior --- Behavior
• Affiliation
• Dependency
• Sexuality
• Aggression
• Elimination
• Ingestion
• Achievement
• Attachment or affiliative subsystem: “social inclusion intimacy and the formation and
attachment of a strong social bond.”
• Dependency subsystem: “approval, attention or recognition and physical assistance”
• Ingestive subsystem: “the emphasis is on the meaning and structures of the social
events surrounding the occasion when the food is eaten”
• Eliminative subsystem: “human cultures have defined different socially acceptable
behaviors for excretion of waste ,but the existence of such a pattern remains different
from culture to Culture.”
• Sexual subsystem:" both biological and social factor affect the behavior in the sexual
subsystem”
• Aggressive subsystem: " it relates to the behaviors concerned with protection and self
preservation Johnson views aggressive subsystem as one that generates defensive
response from the individual when life or territory is being threatened”
• Achievement subsystem: " provokes behavior that attempt to control the
environment intellectual, physical, creative, mechanical and social skills achievement
are some of the areas that Johnson recognizes".
Summary
• Johnson’s Behavioral system model is a model of nursing care that
advocates the fostering of efficient and effective behavioral functioning
in the patient to prevent illness. The patient is defined as behavioral
system composed of 7 behavioral subsystems. Each subsystem composed
of four structural characteristics i.e. drives, set, choices and observable
behavior.
• Three functional requirement of each subsystem includes
(1) Protection from noxious influences,
(2) Provision for the nurturing environment, and
(3) stimulation for growth. Any imbalance in each system results in
disequilibrium .it is nursing role to assist the client to return to the state of
equilibrium.