Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Science

Vocabulary flashcards generated from nursing science history, theoretical components, knowledge development stages, and philosophical foundations.

Assessment

The first step of the Nursing Process involving observation and history taking.

Diagnosis

The step of the Nursing Process focused on identifying the problem.

Planning of Interventions

The step of the Nursing Process centered on setting goals and objectives.

Implementation

The step of the Nursing Process that involves experimentation.

Evaluation

The conclusion step of the Nursing Process, which can also be counted as assessment, going back to the first step.

Science

A method of describing, explaining, and predicting causes or outcomes of interventions.

Rationalism

A scope of knowledge emphasizing prior reasoning as the appropriate way of advancing knowledge, utilizing deductive inquiry and a theory-then-research strategy.

Empiricism

A scope of knowledge anchored on sensory experience generalizing observed facts, utilizing inductive inquiry and a research-then-theory strategy.

Scientific Consensus

Agreement in three areas required to accept a theory: agreement on the boundaries of the theory or phenomenon, agreement on the logic used in constructing the theory, and agreement that the theory fits the collected research data.

Theory

A system of ideas that is presumed to explain a given phenomenon.

Theory (Streubert & Carpenter, 2011)

A systematic explanation of an event in which constructs and concepts are identified and relationships are proposed and predictions made.

Theory (Chinn & Kramer, 2018)

A creative and rigorous structuring of ideas that project a tentative purposeful, systematic view of phenomena.

Theory (Young et al., 2001)

A set of interpretable assumptions, principles or propositions that help explain or guide actions.

Concept

The elements or components necessary to understand the phenomenon; considered the building block of theories.

Abstract Concepts

Concepts mentally formulated independent of a specific time and place.

Concrete Concepts

Concepts directly experienced and related to a particular time and place.

Relationship Statements

Statements that indicate a specific relationship between two or more concepts.

Propositions

A statement of a relationship between two or more concepts.

Hypothesis

Tentative suggestions that a specific relationship exists between two concepts or propositions; an educated guess-based statement.

Laws

Relationships among two concepts that have been validated repeatedly.

Axioms

Relational statements common in abstract statements.

Assumptions

Beliefs about a phenomenon that are accepted as true.

Conceptual Model/Framework

A set of interrelated concepts that symbolically represents and conveys a mental image of a phenomenon.

Phenomenon

Designation of an aspect as reality.

CORE (Hall's Three Aspects of Nursing)

The Person component of Hall's model, centered on the therapeutic use of self.

CARE (Hall's Three Aspects of Nursing)

The Body component of Hall's model, centered on intimate bodily care.

CURE (Hall's Three Aspects of Nursing)

The Disease component of Hall's model, centered on seeing the patient and family through medical care.

Silent Knowledge

An 18th-century stage of knowledge where instructions are followed blindly, and Nightingale simply accepts the identity of the individual.

Received Knowledge

A World War II stage of knowledge where people learn by listening and using borrowed knowledge from other medical professionals.

Subjective Knowledge

A 1950s stage of knowledge where nursing theorists became the source of authority, fostering a new sense of self.

Procedural Knowledge

A 1970s stage of knowledge where theories are applied in practice without rationalizations, and metaparadigms were identified.

Constructed Knowledge

A stage of knowledge combining intuition and reasoning, accompanied by the introduction of literature or research.

Integrated Knowledge

A stage of knowledge applying evidence-based practices and evidence from nursing into clinical healthcare application.

Omrey, et al. (1995)

Authors who stated that nursing theories clarify the complex intellectual and interactional domains distinguishing expert nursing practice from the mere doing of tasks.

Fawcett (1992)

Author who highlighted that theories identify practice standards, settings, recipient characteristics, nursing processes, technologies, and direct service delivery.

Ontology

The study of being; what is and what exists.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge; ways of knowing.

Methodology

The means of acquiring knowledge.