Hcs 513 - Concept Comparison and Analysis Across Nursing Theories

Concept Comparison and Analysis across Nursing Theories

Michelle Klettner

HCS/513

June 17, 2013

Georgia Swank

Concept Comparison and Analysis across Nursing Theories

The focus of this paper is to select a core concept common to two or more contemporary nursing theories. A comparison and analysis of the chosen concept with a definition from two selected theorists will be provided. The concept for discussion will be nursing. The two theorists who will be discussed are Dorothea Orem and Martha Rogers. Orem's self-care deficit theory will be discussed in depth. It will identify where and when to apply the concept to nursing practice. The concept statement, metaparadigms, philosophies, and concept model for Orem's self-care deficit theory will be discussed.

Core Concept

Theories provide the foundation and guide nursing practice. "Theory is a set of concepts, definitions, and propositions that project a systematic view of phenomena by designing specific interrelationships among concepts for the purpose of describing, explaining, predicting, or controlling phenomena" (Theofanidis & Fountouki, 2008, p. 16). Every theory has core concepts that comprehensively define the nursing field and these are nursing, health, environment, and human being. The discussion will focus on the concept of human being. The human being often represents the patient in the health care environment. This includes the various aspects that make the human being a whole. In many theories the human being includes the different aspects that may affect the care, which includes the intellectual, spiritual, and physical aspect of the human body. Every human being has different needs, concerns, and reactions to the health care environment. No one individual is the same or will react the same in a given situation. Nursing understands the complexity of the human body and designs an individualized plan of care to support the entire human being. Theory supports the development of knowledge in the nursing profession.

Concept Analysis and Comparison

The comparison and analysis of the core concept of human being will be discussed between two major theories. The concept shall be reviewed in relation to Dorothea Orem's self-care deficit theory and Martha Rogers science and unitary human beings theory. Both theorists define the concept human being in their theories.

Dorothea Orem understanding of human beings is that each human being is different from other living things in that they can think about themselves and their interactions with their environment to create symbols relating to their experience, and to use symbols, such as words and concepts to think, communicate, and act in efforts to be useful to themselves and to others (George, 2011, p. 121). The human being is the main focus in Orem's self-care theory. In this portion of the theory human beings have a different levels at which they care for themselves. "Self-care is the performance or practice of activities that individuals initiate and perform on their own behalf to maintain life, health, and well-being" (George, 2011, p. 115). The different levels of self-care depend greatly on the individual ability to provide for this or her health care needs. For example if an individual is in need of medication but has no insurance they will likely go without the medication is the expense is too high. This could affect their well-being, but spending a large amount of money on medication that they could have used for food and water is a self-care dilemma. Each individual has different priorities concerning his or her health and well-being. Orem's theory understands the basis conditioning factors that affect an individual's ability to provide self-care.

Martha Rogers has a slightly different interpretation of human beings. She defines human being as unitary human beings that is an irreducible, indivisible, pandimensional energy field identified by patterns and manifesting characteristics specific to the whole and which cannot be predicted from knowledge of the parts (George, 2011, p. 270). Her theory supported the abstract thinking that human beings are not only physical but have an energy force not seen but support the entire individual. For some individual in nursing this definition of human being is not concrete and does not provide enough of an explanation to build on the theory. The concept of the energy field is difficult to understand because it cannot be seen, felt, or identified (George, 2011). Nursing understands the complexity of each individual patient and the sum of parts that affects the individual health care. When nursing thinks of an individual as a complex human being both theories can support the care.

Theory Application

Dorothea Orem's theory is the selection for discussion of where and how it is applied to nursing practice. The theory of self-care applies to every individual in need of nursing care (George, 2011). This applies to any health care environment, for example this could include nursing homes, hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics, etc. It essentially covers any health care organization that supports individuals who cannot meet their self-care needs. Orem's theory has three interrelates theories to support the normal life and human development necessity adjustments, which may be improved by supportive education (George, 2011). The nursing professional practice uses Orem's theory in the development of care plans to support the individual health care concerns of each patient. This development is collated, and the results are appraised, synthesized, and transferred to service delivery settings and health professionals who utilize is and evaluate its impact on health outcomes, health systems, and professional practice (The Joanna Briggs Institute, 2012). Nursing take into consideration the different aspects that can affect and individuals ability to provide self-care and incorporates the individual abilities into the plan of care.

Concept Statement

Dorothea Orem's basis concept is the ability to provide one's own care. In the event that one cannot provide his or her own care the theory of self-care is applicable. "Nursing has as