Conceptual Nursing Theories

Theory and Conceptual Models

The Foundation of Nursing

The profession of nursing has been transformed and redefined by preceding nursing theorists who pursued their efforts passionately to lay the groundwork of this profession. Parse (1997) defined a discipline as "a branch of knowledge ordered through the theories and methods evolving from more than one worldview of the phenomenon of concern (as cited in McEwen, M., & Wills, E.M., 2014)". A discipline made up of an ever-changing evolvement of information built upon an existing rooted body of knowledge, undeniably instrumental in defining the subject. Furthermore, the idea of conducting a systematic, purposeful inquiry, for the purpose of acquiring knowledge is the very essence of a theory

The definition of theory described in one study seeking to understand the phenomena of suffering through an exploration of concepts such as disease, illness, and suffering (Gabrielsen , Naden , & Lindstrom, 2014 ). Theory can, therefore, be defined as a collection of concepts which render meaning and guidance. One important aspect of a theory is the ability to impact nursing care through the reliability and consistency of testing a theory with the application of the theory used in a clinical scenario (Connelly, 2014). Furthering elaborating on the definition of theory can be explained by authors (Gabrielsen , Naden , & Lindstrom, 2014) use of researcher Eriksson's theoretical perspective of caring and sub-categories of

Whereas conceptual models differ from theories in their lack of a clear association or link between concepts (Connelly, 2014). Differences between theories and conceptual models are supported with an example of a study conducted by Parker (2014) in which the author tests an instrument resulting in a decision-making model for nurses to use when activating a Rapid Response Team. Parker (2014) purpose of the study was to "assess the relationship between the nurses' decision- making model and frequency of RRT team activation (p.161)". With the existing conceptual models making up the different decision-making models, the intention was to test the theory used to develop the conceptual models and analyze data into categories; thereby, supporting the validity of the instrument and conceptual models. A conceptual model allows further research to be conducted to test the validity of concepts and their relationship further, therefore proving its applicability in a clinical setting (Parker,