For nursing education

6. Theory of Goal Attainment
• Imogene King’s Theory of Goal Attainment was first introduced in the
1960s.
• From the title itself, the model focuses on the attainment of certain
life goals.
• It explains that the nurse and patient go hand-in-hand in
communicating information, set goals together, and then take actions
to achieve those goals.

7. The Theory of Goal Attainment states that
“Nursing is a process of action, reaction, and interaction by which
nurse and client share information about their perception in a nursing
situation”
and
“a process of human interactions between nurse and client whereby
each perceives the other and the situation, and through
communication, they set goals, explore means, and agree on means
to achieve goals.”

8. Major Concepts and Subconcepts
The following are the major concepts and subconcepts of Imogene
King’s Theory of Goal Attainment:
• Nursing
• Health
• Environment
• Action
• Reaction

9. Nursing
• Nursing is a process of action, reaction, and interaction whereby
nurse and client share information about their perceptions in the
nursing situation.
• The nurse and client share specific goals, problems, and concerns
and explore how to achieve a goal.

10. Health
• Health is a dynamic life experience of a human being, which implies
continuous adjustment to stressors in the internal and external
environment through optimum use of one’s resources to achieve
maximum daily living potential.

11. Individual
• Individuals are social beings who are rational and sentient. Humans
communicate their thoughts, actions, customs, and beliefs through
language.
• Persons exhibit common characteristics such as the ability to
perceive, think, feel, choose between alternative courses of action,
set goals, select the means to achieve goals, and make decisions.

12. Environment
• The environment is the background for human interactions. It is both
external to, and internal to, the individual.

13. Action
Action is defined as a sequence of behaviors involving mental and
physical activity.
The sequence is first mental action to recognize the presenting
conditions; then physical action to begin activities related to those
conditions; and finally, mental action to exert control over the
situation, combined with physical action seeking to achieve goals.

14. Reaction
The reaction is not specifically defined but might be considered in the
sequence of behaviors described in action.

15. Interacting Systems of Theory of Goal Attainment
According to King, there are three interacting systems in the Theory of
Goal Attainment. These are
• personal system
• interpersonal system
• social system

16. Personal Systems
• Each individual is a personal system. King designated an example of a
personal system as a patient or a nurse. King specified the concepts
of
1. body image
2. growth and development
3. perception
4. self
5. space
6. and time to comprehend human beings as persons.

17. Interpersonal Systems
• These are formed by human beings interacting.
• As the number of interacting individuals increases, so does the
complexity of the interactions.
• Understanding the interpersonal system requires the concepts of
1. Communication
2. Interaction
3. role
4. stress and
5. transaction.

18. Social Systems
• A more comprehensive interacting system consists of groups that
make up society, referred to as the social system. Religious,
educational, and health care systems are examples of social systems.
• Within a social system, the concepts of
• Authority
• decision making
• organization
• power, and
• status guide system understanding.

19. Dynamic Conceptual Systems

21. Theory of Goal Attainment and The Nursing Process
• Imogene King emphasizes the nursing process in her model of
nursing. The steps of the nursing process are
• Assessment
• nursing diagnosis
• planning
• implementations and
• evaluation.