DOROTHY OREM’S

SELF-CARE DEFICIT
THEORY

Presented by: samiullah
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 DOROTHEA OREM
1914-2007

Born in 1914 in Baltimore, US
Diploma at Providence
Hospital—Washington, DC
1939—BSN Ed., Catholic
University of America
1945--- MSN Ed., Catholic
University of America
 DOROTHYOREM

 WORKED as
 Staff Nurse,
 Private duty nurse
 Nurse educator

 Theory was first published in Nursing: Concepts of

Practice in 1971, second in 1980, in 1995, and 2001
 SELF-CARE DEFICIT
THEORY

 Orem’s broad, general theory of nursing’s three
related parts:

 Theory of Self-Care
 Theory of Self-Care deficit
 Theory of Nursing System
 A. Theory of Self-Care

 This theory includes:

Self-care: practice of activities that an individual

initiates and performs on their OWN behalf in
maintaining life, health, well-being
Self-care agency: The human ability to initiate
self-care, it is conditioned by age, developmental
state, life experiences, health, sociocultural
orientation
 
 Self-Care Pre-requisites: Action directed towards
provision of self-care.
 Three categories of self-care pre-requisites:

1. Universal Self-care Requisites

2. Developmental Self-care Requisites
3. Health Deviation Self-care Requisites
 Universal Self-Care
Requisites

 Associated with maintenance of basic human
structure and functioning
 Common to all; activities of daily living
 Sufficient air, water, food
 Care with elimination process
 Balance between activity and rest, solitude and
human interaction
 Prevention of hazards
 Developmental
Self-Care

 Adjusted with developmental processes/derived
from a condition or an event

 Examples:
 Adjusting to a new job, new class in school, or body
changes
 Health-Deviation
Self-Care

 Required in condition of illness, injury or disease
 These include:
 Seeking medical attention
 Taking prescribed medicines
 Eating healthy, excercising
Self-Care Activities
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 Self-Care Activities
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 Eating
 Sleeping
 Hygiene
 Socializing
 Taking medicines on time
 Theory of
Self-Care Deficit
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 Specifies when nursing is needed

 Nursing is required when an adult (or in case of

dependent, the parent) is not capable or restricted in
the provision of continuous effective self-care
 Orem’s Five Methods:

 Acting for and doing for others
 Guiding others
 Supporting another
 Providing an environment promoting personal
development in relation to meet future demands
 Teaching another
Theory of Nursing Systems

 Describes how the patient’s self-care needs will be
met by the nurse, the patient, or both
 Identifies 3 classifications of nursing system to meet
the self-care requisites of the patient:
Wholly compensatory: ambulation
Partial compensatory: both nurse/patient
perform care measures
Supportive-educative system: patient can
perform without assistance, just provide therapeutic
oriented care
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS

 People should be self-reliant, take care of themselves,
meaning responsible for their own care and others in
their family

 People are distinctively different….No person is the

same

 Nursing is a form of action– interaction between two

or more persons
MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS

 Successfully meeting universal and developmental
self-care requisites is important aspect of
preventative care

 A person’s knowledge of potential health problems

is necessary for promoting self-care behaviors

 Definitions of
Domain Concepts:

Nursing is an art, a helping service, and a technology
 Actions performed purposively by nurses of patients
under their care to change or maintain conditions
 To maintain a state of health
 To regain normal or near normal state of health or
functioning
 Goal of nursing: to make the patient or members of his
family/support group capable of meeting the patient’s
self-care needs
 Domain Concepts:

Health: combined psychological and
psychological mechanisms and a material structure
in relation to human beings

 Other perspectives?

Environment: ??? Help define

Human Being: ???
 Application in Practice:

 Orem self-care deficit theory has been used many
times with regards to nursing process context:
 Nursing Problem: deficits in any of the requisites
 Nursing Process: A system to determine:
1.) why a person is under care
2.) Plan for care
3.) the implementation of care
 Nursing therapeutics: deliberate, systematic and
purposeful action
 Evaluation

 Generalizability

 Framework Simplicity

 ANY QUESTIONS?