Question

Compare and contrast a minimum of two middle range theories and describe how one of these middle range theories could serve as a foundation for direct practice improvement. Provide examples.

Answer 1

Compare and contrast a minimum of two middle range theories and describe how one of these middle range theories could serve as a foundation for direct practice improvement. Provide examples.

Answer :

Middle range theory is defined as a “set of related ideas that are focused on a limited dimension of the reality of nursing”, middle range theory can be used to guide everyday practice. The middle range nursing theory is important for the students of nursing because it provides a middle reality view and more specifically generalized practice areas for the nurses. It also provides the nurses with concrete ideas which however are limited but very useful for them. According to research, practice guidelines or standards of care appeared to be the least common sources for middle range theory development. A theory comprising limited numbers of variables, each of limited scope. Middle-range theories are generated or tested by means of research, and are used as the evidence for practice activities, such as assessment, intervention ,are and outcomes.

Sone Middle-Range Nursing Theories are :

• Interpersonal relations - Peplau's theory
• Human caring - Watson's theory
• The Framework of Systemic Organization - Marie-Louise Friedemann
• Theory of Group Power within Organizations - Christina Sieloff
• Theory of Comfort - Katharine Kolcaba
• Theory of Maternal Role Attainment- Ramona Thieme Mercer
• Nurse as Wounded Healer - Marion Conti O'hare
• Synergy Model - AACN

Any Hospital meet these challenges by using a systematic approach consisting of following steps :

• Conduct a focus group
• Select a model
• Communicate
• Educate
• Implement the model
• Evaluate the model.

Practice nursing theories are situation specific theories that are narrow in scope and focuses on a specific patient population at a specific time. Practice-level nursing theories provide frameworks for nursing interventions and suggest outcomes or the effect of nursing practice. Theory in the human sciences has been used to delineate and legitimate the emerging disciplines and knowledge development.

Peplau's theory of interpersonal relations: middle-range theory of interpersonal relations in nursing was chosen as a suitable nursing theory for this research because Peplau frequently acknowledged the importance of patients' experiences of nursing care. In the theory of interpersonal relations in nursing, Peplau emphasized patients' experiences and the effect that nurse-patient relationships have on those experiences. Peplau asserted that the focus of scientific research in nursing should be patients, their needs, and their perceptions about the care they received from nurses (Gastmans, 1998). The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a confirmatory factor analysis done to compare the factor structure of HCAHPS data using both the IOM (2001) conceptual model and Peplau's middle-range theory of interpersonal relations in nursing.

Jean Watson's “Philosophy and Theory of Transpersonal Caring” mainly concerns on how nurses care for their patients, and how that caring progresses into better plans to promote health and wellness, prevent illness and restore health. The theory is demonstrated as the practice of loving-kindness, equanimity, authenticity, enabling, cultivating a spiritual practice; developing a relationship that is helping-trusting; enabling the expression of both positive and negative feelings; having a caring-healing practice.

This theory is used today in most hospitals because Watson continued to grow his theory by looking at behaviorism and emotions. He studied how emotions effect behaviors and how they determine our actions. His research is still used today and his theory continues to prove effective in psychological and educational settings. Jean Watson came up with the Theory of Human Caring which is a grand nursing theory that works to bring focus to nursing as a new discipline that was to have its unique values, knowledge, and practices as well as distinct ethics and missions to the society .Watson created the Theory of Human Caring between 1975 and 1979 from her personal views of nursing. ... Her work was influenced by her teaching experience and was created as a way to find common meaning among nurses from all over the world. Watson's theory was first published in 1988.Watson was a pioneering psychologist who played an important role in developing behaviorism. Watson believed that psychology should primarily be scientific observable behavior. He is remembered for his research on the conditioning process.Watson's most influential and well-known work was his study of emotions. He was particularly interested in studying the way that emotions could be learned. He believed that emotions were merely physical responses to external stimuli and that rage, fear, and love were all yet to be learned at birth.

Jean Watson views on patterns of knowledge :Empirical knowledge (the science): This knowing must be publicly verifiable and entail the factual description, predictions, explanations, or must be founded on objective or subjective group data. Scientific data is a good example.