QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Stages of Nursing Theory Development - ANS Silent Knowledge
Received Knowledge
Subjective Knowledge
Procedural Knowledge
Constructed Knowledge
Silent Knowledge - ANS Blind obedience to medical authority
Following orders because that is what the physician said to do, little attempt to develop theory
Received knowledge - ANS Learning through listening to others
Borrowing theories from other disciplines (sociology, education, medicine)
Subjective knowledge - ANS Authority was internalized and a new sense of self emerged
Focusing on defining nursing and developing theories
Procedural knowledge - ANS Includes both separate and connected knowledge.
Difficulty attaching theory to practice
Constructed knowledge - ANS Integration of different types of knowledge (intuition, reason,
and self-knowledge)
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, Shift from grand theories to middle and practice theories
Components of a Theory - ANS Phenomenon
Concepts
Definitions
Assumptions
Phenomenon - ANS An aspect of reality that can be observed or experienced.
Phenomena can be sensed, it is real e.g. a patient's response (for example to stress which
causes the blood sugar to increase) or response to a treatment. It is "the thing" that gets you
started or thinking.
Concepts - ANS Elements of a phenomenon that are necessary to understand the
phenomenon.
Concepts is the glossary of terms that is used to describe the phenomena. Examples of concepts
might be stressors, defense mechanisms, ideas that the patient have that make them respond
in a particular way.
Definitions - ANS Communicates the general meanings of the concepts involved.
The definitions describe it, e.g. a patient with diabetes reacting by refusing to give up regular
sodas.
Assumptions - ANS Beliefs about the phenomena that one must accept as true to accept the
theory to be true.
Assumptions can be the normal range of responses expected during stress for example. It is
usually common knowledge.
Types of Theories - ANS Classified by level (Grand or Middle range of abstraction)
and by
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