NURSING THEORIES: A COMPARISON

Nursing Theories: A Comparison



Nursing Theories: A Comparison

Introduction

Prior to the 1800s in both the United States and England, most nursing education occurred within families or religious institutions such as the Sisters of Charity. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, nursing started to be professionalized, and methods of training nurses began to evolve. This entry looks at issues of concern to nursing educators, beginning in the late 1800s, including the role of nurses in both hospitals and the community and appropriate qualifications for nursing education applicants, nursing graduates, and nursing educators. This paper presents a comparison of nursing theories in a concise and comprehensive way.

Nursing Theories: A Comparison

Diverse patterns of knowing were identified by Carper (1978), who expanded the historical view of nursing as an art and a science in her classic paper, "Fundamental Patterns of Knowing in Nursing." She identified four ways or patterns of knowing in nursing: empirics, ethics, personal, and aesthetics. Carper's work is significant in that it "not only highlighted the centrality of empirically derived theoretical knowledge, but [also] recognized with equal importance and weight, knowledge gained through clinical practice" (Stein, Corte, Colling, & Whall, 1998, p. 43). Chinn and Kramer (1999) expanded Carper's work by identifying processes associated with each pattern of knowing. Their work has enhanced understanding of each pattern of knowing and has brought Carper's ideas to the attention of a wide audience of nurses.

The pattern of empirical knowing (Table) encompasses publicly verifiable, factual descriptions, explanations, and predictions based on subjective or objective group data. In other words, empirical knowing is about "averages." This pattern of knowing, which constitutes the science of nursing, is well established in nursing epistemology and methods. Empirical knowing is generated and tested by means of empirical research. The next section of this paper extends the common focus on empirics as the primary focus of evidence, and offers a new lens for considering theory-guided evidence and diverse ways of knowing that can and should be integrated into nurses' evidence-based practice initiatives.

Diverse Patterns of Knowing

In contrast to empirics, the other patterns of knowing are less established, but they are of increasing interest for the discipline of nursing in particular and for science in general. Ethical knowing, personal knowing, and aesthetic knowing are required for moral, humane, and personalized nursing practice (Stein et al., 1998). The pattern of ethical knowing (Table) encompasses descriptions of moral obligations, moral and nonmoral values, and desired ends. Ethical knowing, which constitutes the ethics of nursing, is generated by means of ethical inquiries that are focused on identification and analysis of the beliefs and values held by individuals and groups and the clarification of those beliefs and values. Ethical knowing is tested by means of ethical inquiries that focus on dialogue about beliefs and values and establishing justification for those beliefs and values.

The pattern of personal knowing refers to the quality and authenticity of the interpersonal process between each nurse and each patient (Table). This pattern is concerned with the knowing, encountering, and actualizing ...