TRANSITION THEORY

DR. Afaf I. Meleis

AFAF I. MELEIS (MARCH 19, 1942)
Influenced the field of nursing through developmental of the Transition Theory and participant
to many national and international organization and committees.
 Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and the American Academy of Nursing
 Member of the Institute of Medicine
 President Emerita of the International Council on Women’s Health Issue
 Professor and former Dean at the University of Pennsylvania, Former professor at the University
of California
 Authored more than 175 scholar articles, 40 chapters, and 7 books including Theoretical
Nursing: Development and Progress
 TRANSITION THEORY
• Individual response to change
• Supporting the individual through transition
• Promoting optimal health (Physically, Emotionally)
• Framework to guide nursing care before, during, and after the transition.
• Stavarski (2018) found that by applying the Transition Theory nurses can engender hope and
improve patient outcomes. Outcomes were assessed based on questionnaires completed by
nurses and patient.
THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE IS COMPOSED OF TRANSITION

• Wellness to Illness
• Home to Hospital
• Illness back to Health

• Nursing Education
ASSUMPTIONS

Individuals experiencing changes with different response or outcomes.

Patient outcomes are impacted by transition experience.
Preventative and therapeutic interventions can impact the outcome.
Individuals are capable of learning to embrace new roles and challenges.
Environmental and personal characteristic both shape an individual’s
personal experience.
CONCEPT AND TERMS

Time – A situation comes into awareness

Example: a symptoms, diagnosis or major life events.
Process – Begins with confusion or neutrality as the individual adjust to the transition
2nd phase of process – Where connections are built or a start of a new beginning to move forward.
Disconnectedness – Inconsistency between past, present and future state of health.
Awareness – Focuses on the internal experiences.
Individual is understanding the event, situation and trigger.
Milestone – Phases of Transition.
WHAT TRIGGERS A TRANSITION?

Health – Illness
Example: A patient coming into a clinical setting (hospital).
Developmental – Age or Role
Example (Age): Adolescence or an aging adult going through developmental change
Example(Role): A patient comes in and give birth or if a patient comes in and finds out
that she’s pregnant.
Situational – Situations that indicates a transition
Organizational – Does not focus on the individual but focusses on the community.
 STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS
STRENGTH
• Applicable to all patient
• All adults can grow ability to respond to
transition
• Stavarski (2018) found that by applying the
Transition Theory nurses can engender
hope and improve patient outcomes.
Outcomes were assessed based on
questionnaires completed by nurses and
patient.
Weakness
• Subjective, can be difficult to quantify
success
• Endpoint is uncertain
• Nurse time constraint and workload limited
a nurses ability to apply necessary time to
encourage and support patient throughout
the transition. Stavarski (2018)