(Levine, 1988b). She and her colleagues began
to focus on the importance of nursing research
and taught perception, sleep, distance (space), and
periodicity as a factor in health and disease. See
the “Influences on the Conservation Model” that
follows.
THE COMPOSITION OF THE
CONSERVATION MODEL
As an organizing framework for nursing practice,
the goal of the Conservation Model is to promote
The goal of the Conservation Model is to
promote adaptation and maintain whole-
ness using the principles of conservation.adaptation and maintain wholeness using the prin-
ciples of conservation. The model guides the nurse
to focus on the influences and responses at the or-
ganismic level. The nurse accomplishes the goals of
the model through the conservation of energy,
structure, and personal and social integrity (Levine,
1967). Interventions are provided in order to im-
prove the patient’s condition (therapeutic) or to
promote comfort (supportive) when change in the
patient’s condition is not possible. The outcomes of
the interventions are assessed through the organis-
mic response.
Although Levine identified two concepts critical
to the use of her model—adaptation and whole-
ness—conservation is fundamental to the outcomes
expected when the model is used. Conservation is
therefore handled as the third major concept of the
model. Using the model in practice requires that
the nurse understand the commonplaces (Barnum,
1994) of health, person, environment, and nursing.
Components
Before delving into the inner workings of Levine’s
model, it is necessary to understand its components.
Adaptation
Adaptationis the process of change, and conserva-
tion is the outcome of adaptation. Adaptation is
the process whereby the patient maintains integrity
within the realities of the environment (Levine,
1966, 1989a). Adaptation is achieved through the
“frugal, economic, contained, and controlled use of
environmental resources by the individual in his or
her best interest” (Levine, 1991, p. 5). In her view:
The environmental “fit” that underscores successful
adaptation suggests that every species has fixed pat-
terns of response uniquely designed to ensure success
in essential life activities, demonstrating that adapta-
tion is both historical and specific. However, tremen-
dous opportunities for individual accommodations
are locked into the gene structure of each species;
every individual is one of a kind. (p. 5)Every individual has a unique range of adaptive
responses. These responses will vary based on
heredity, age, gender, or challenges of an illness ex-
perience. For example, the response to weakness of
the cardiac muscle is an increased heart rate, dila-
tion of the ventricle, and thickening of the myocar-
dial muscle. While the responses are the same, the
timing and the manifestation of the organismic re-
sponse (e.g., pulse rate) will be unique for each in-
dividual.
Redundancy, history, and specificity character-
ize adaptation. These characteristics are “rooted
in history and awaiting the specific circumstances
to which they respond” (Levine, 1991, p. 6). The
genetic structure develops over time and provides
the foundation for these responses. Specificity,
while sharing traits with a species, has individ-
ual potential that creates a variety of adaptation
outcomes. For example, diabetes has a genetic com-
ponent, which explains the fundamental decrease
in sugar metabolism. However, the organismic re-
sponses vary (renal perfusion, blood vessel in-
tegrity), for example, based on genetic alterations,
age, gender, and therapeutic management tech-
niques.
Redundancy represents the fail-safe options
available to the individual to ensure continued
adaptation. Levine (1991) believed that health is
dependent on the ability to select from redundant
options. She hypothesized that aging may be the
result of the failure of redundant systems. If this is
the case, then survival is dependent on redundant
options, which are often challenged and limited
by illness, disease, and aging. When the compensa-
tory response to cardiac disease is no longer able
to maintain an adequate blood flow to vital organs
during activity, survival becomes increasingly
difficult. Adaptation represents the accommoda-
tion between the internal and external environ-
ments.
Conservation
Conservationis the product of adaptation and is a
common principle underlying many of the basicCHAPTER 9 Myra Levine’s Conservation Model and Its Applications 97