Nursing response Db#2_sr

150 words 1 nursing reference within 5 yrs.

The intended purpose of theory is to describe and support the schema of a discipline.  In nursing the prevailing perspective involves a more holistic and humanistic approach, rather than interventions based primarily on cause and effect.  Nursing theory also emphasizes the use of caring throughout the nursing situation, and seeks to understand the person’s unique context of health.  Using theory nursing interventions are driven by the achievement of idealistic goals for the purpose of positive health care outcomes (Alligood, 2011).  However, the level of a theories adaptability in practice is determined by its characteristics, testability, and source of development.

The functional components of Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (SCDNT) relates to nursing’s practical elements of person, environment, and health, through the interrelated theories of self-care, self-care deficit, and theory of nursing systems.  Orem believed the three interlocking theories expressed the clear specifications for nurse and patient roles, which make up the whole that is Orem’s grand theory (Parker & Smith, 2010, p. 125).  The central idea of this theory is in which it identifies the complex relationships between the recipient of nursing care and its providers.  

A key concept of this is that the patient is the principal performer of self-care behaviors, not the nurse.  This allows the patient to become an active agent in his or her own care and develop a sense of self-care empowerment.  According to the theory, goal setting should also be mutual and must consider the patient’s point of view.  Furthermore, SCDNT can be utilized as a theoretical framework to guide research in within the discipline of psychiatric nursing.  This is because Orem’s theory links nursing interventions that promote self-care to positive patient recovery outcomes.  More specifically, Seed and Torkelson (2012) believe utilizing SCDNT to guide practice can provide psychiatric nurses with a language that creates a recovery model culture.  In addition, Orem’s theory brings to light nursing instrumental impact on those afflicted with mental health disparities and a means of recovery.  Therefore, this call to transform mental health systems is not only an opportunity for nursing to return to its roots, but also deliver care that is patient-centered and conducive to healing the patient as a whole (Seed & Torkelson, 2012).