“Top 5” Concepts

“Echoes in Nursing/Ch 9”

Carol Glaze, MSN, RN, IBCLC

#1: Logical Positivism & Nursing

3 Types of Influence:• Intentional adoption(conscious

application to work) Gortner, 1993• Textually maintained (cite or quote)• Shared important/similar ideas

(Concerning because criticism

of received view could extend to nursing

if ideas are very similar)**

# 2: What is a Metaparadigm?• Definition: “the most abstract set of concepts and themes in the

discipline and it determines the proper domain of nursing inquiry.” (Fawcett, 1984)

• Fawcett surveyed existing work to find highest-level unifying concepts (person, health, environment, & nursing) and those unified the discipline of nursing like mid-century philosophy of science in an abstract and global manner.

• Masterman (1970) Critique of Kuhn’s work introduced the metaparadigm. (It was not a special kind of paradigm that was more general or abstract than an ordinary paradigm)

• Kuhn argued that unity is a top down affair and no logic to how unifying theories or concepts are discovered..

• Nursing must have a metaparadigm. (Highest level of concepts unified the discipline).

#3: Levels of Nursing Theory

# 4: Borrowed Theory

Echoes of the received view of theory:

The most abstract theories or conceptual models define the concepts to be used in a discipline

Can only use borrowed theory if reformed using concepts within the scope of nursing’s conceptual models.• Cody (pg 103)• Phillips (pg 104)

# 5: The Relevance Gap• Conant (1967) identified the relevance gap between practice & theory,

and it was widely recognized in the 1980’s. (Ch 2)• As an increase of grand theory influence and adoption of philosophy of

science ideas in nursing, this contributed to relevance gap. • Why? Scientific theories at the top level were not developed to be useful

in solving practice problems. The division between theories and values contributed. The knowledge needed by professional nurses to solve specific problems was not in the disciplines structure.

• How do we close the gap? Development of more middle and micro-range theories with nursing research. Must develop grand and middle-range theories, supported with nursing values before practice theories.

References:

Risjord, M. (2010) Echoes in Nursing, in Nursing Knowledge: Science, Practice, and Philosophy, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781444315516.ch9

Levels of theory. Retrieved from www.online.ocg.edu