The Purpose of Nursing Theories

Theory
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Theory
A theory can be defined as a group of concepts that are related and propose certain actions and these actions act as a guide for practice and or education in a certain professional field. It is a group of general propositions that are coherent and used as the basis for providing explanations. Nursing theory, are concepts in nursing, relationships, definitions, and/or assumptions and prepositions that are derived from models in nursing or other disciplines portraying a purposive and systematic view of phenomena. This is through designing certain inter-relationships among the concepts for providing descriptions, explanations, predictions and/or prescriptions (Meleis, 2007).
Therefore, the purpose of a theory and in this regard a nursing theory is to provide the principles of nursing practice and generate knowledge. In addition, it theory provides guidelines for nursing practice to maximize the practice outcomes. The theory also provides guidelines for research and new perspectives for understanding knowledge in nursing and nursing practice (Liehr & Smith, 2008).
Theories can be recognized on the basis of their characteristics in nursing these characteristics include the presence of concepts that are interrelated and provide a new approach of looking at phenomena within the nursing profession. In addition, theories are often logically organized and generalizable within the nursing practice. These theories are often based on certain hypothesis that can be tested. The theory also has an increasing body of knowledge that is usually implemented to support it and used by practitioners to practice. Finally, it is usually consistent with other theories that have already been validated by existing laws, theories, and principles, but leave open questions that are unanswered for further investigation (George, 2011).
A theory of action as applied in nursing are underlying assumptions regarding how nursing profession, practice, and education will move from its current state to its desired future. It aligns the intended theories of practice in actual practice environment and acts as the connection between the strategies and relationships that ar...