The document discusses nursing theory, including its importance in distinguishing nursing as a discipline and communicating nursing practice. It covers the initial development of nursing theory to define nursing's domain, and notes that while some early scholars wanted a single theory, nursing theory has evolved with multiple perspectives. Key topics of nursing theory development, types of theories, and issues like whether nursing theory borrows from other fields or is unique are presented. Florence Nightingale is cited as the first modern nursing theorist for delineating nursing's goals and practice.

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Chapter 2
Overview of Theory in Nursing

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Overview of Theory
• Unique theory and perspectives distinguish different
disciplines
• Multiple definitions for “theory”

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The Importance of Theory in Nursing
• Initial work of nursing theory:
– Aimed to distinguish nursing domain
• Theories and models:
– Communicate profession of nursing and practice of
nursing

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Question
Tell whether the following statement is true or false:
Some nursing scholars believe that theory is practically
nonexistent.

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Answer
True
Rationale: Some nursing scholars believe that nursing
theory is practically nonexistent. Many nurses and often
even nursing faculty admit they see theory as too
“theoretical”; difficult to understand.

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Question
Tell whether the following statement is true or false:
The initial goal of nursing theory, by some scholars, was to
design a single, unified model of nursing.

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Answer
True
Rationale: Some nursing scholars supported the idea of a
single theory to represent nursing, a worldview of the
discipline. Nursing theory has not evolved in this
direction of one single theory.

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Historical Overview: Theory Development
in Nursing
• History
– Florence Nightingale
• Most nursing scholars credit Florence Nightingale
with being the first modern nursing theorist.
• She was the first to delineate nursing’s goal and
practice.

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Stages of Theory Development in Nursing
• Silent Knowledge Stage
• Received Knowledge Stage
• Subjective Knowledge Stage
• Procedural Knowledge Stage
• Constructed Knowledge Stage

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Stages in the Development of Nursing
Theory
• See Table 2-2.

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Classification of Theories in Nursing
• Metatheory
• Grand Theory
• Middle Range Theory
• Practice Theory
• Partial Theory

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Type or Purpose of Theory
• Factor-Isolating Theories
• Factor-Relating Theories
• Situation-Relating Theories
• Situation-Producing Theories

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Issues in Theory Development in Nursing
• Borrowed Versus Unique Theory in Nursing
• Nursing’s Metaparadigm

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Question
Tell whether the following statement is true or false:
Nursing theories use only knowledge from nursing.

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Answer
False
Rationale: Nursing theories incorporate concepts and
theories shared with other disciplines to guide theory
development, research, and practice.

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Nursing’s Metaparadigm
• Metaparadigm is the global perspective of a discipline
that identifies the primary phenomena of interest to that
discipline.
• Nursing Metaparadigm:
– Person
– Health
– Environment
– Nursing

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Selected Theoretical Definitions of the
Concepts of Nursing’s Metaparadigm
• See Table 2-5.