Woods (1994) proposed that the Theory of Goal
Attainment can be used to decrease chronic health
problems among nursing home residents. Clearly,
these applications, and others, show how the
complexity of King’s framework and midrange the-
ory increases its usefulness for nursing (refer to
Table 16–7).
Client Systems
A major strength of King’s work is that it can
be used with virtually all client populations. In
addition to discussing client populations across the
life span, client populations can be identified by
focus of care (client system) and/or focus of health
problem (phenomenon of concern). The focus of
care, or interest, can be an individual (personal sys-
tem) or group (interpersonal or social system).
Thus, application of King’s work, across client sys-
tems, would be divided into the three systems iden-
tified within King’s Interacting Systems Framework
(1981): personal (the individual), interpersonal
(small groups), and social (large groups/society).CHAPTER 16 Applications of King’s Theory of Goal Attainment 251Table 16–7 Application to Various Client SystemsTOPIC AUTHOR(S) YEARPersonal systemsInterpersonal systems
Interpersonal systems (families)Interpersonal systems (groups)Brooks and Thomas
Frey and Norris
Hanna
Jackson, Pokorny, and Vincent
DeHowitt
Hanucharurnkui and Vinya-nguag
Kemppainen
Kenny
McGirr, Rukholm, Salmoni, O’Sullivan, and Koren
Husband
Kohler
Levine, Wilson, and Guido
Smith
Jonas
Pearson and Vaughan
King
Hughes
King and Tarsitano
O’Shall*
Frey and Norris
Norris and Hoyer
Frey
Temple and Fawdry
Spees
Syzmanski
Dispenza*
Rawlins, Rawlins, and Horner
Sirles and Selleck
Frey
Davis
Gonot
Messmer and Neff Smith
King
Strauss
Woods
Monti*
Laben, Dodd, and Sneed1997
1997
1993
1993
1992
1990
1990
1990
1990
1988
1988
1988
1988
1987
1986
1984
1983
1982
1989
1997
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