“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
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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 microrange 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