untitled

be applicable. Although many applications tend to
be with nurses and clients in traditional settings,
successful applications have been shown across
other, including newer and nontraditional, settings.
From hospitals (Jacono, Hicks, Antonioni, O’Brien,
& Rasi, 1990; Lockhart, 2000) to nursing homes
(Zurakowski, 2000), King’s framework and related
theories provide a foundation on which nurses can
build their practice interventions. Table 16–12 lists
applications within a variety of nursing work
settings.

HEALTH CARE BEYOND NURSING

When originally developing the Interacting
Systems Framework, King (1981) borrowed from
knowledge external to nursing and used a systems
framework perspective to assist in explaining nurs-
ing phenomena. This use of knowledge across
disciplines occurs frequently and can be very ap-
propriate if both disciplines’ perspectives are simi-
lar and reformulation occurs. Because of King’s
emphasis on the attainment of goals and the rele-
vancy of goal attainment to many disciplines, both
within and external to health care, it is reasonable
to expect that King’s work could find application

beyond nursing-specific situations. Two specific ex-

amples of this include the application of King’s

work to case management (Hampton, 1994; Sowell

& Lowenstein, 1994) and to managed care

(Hampton, 1994). Both case management and

managed care incorporate multiple disciplines as

they work to improve the overall quality and cost

efficiency of the health care provided. These appli-

cations also address the continuum of care, a prior-

ity in today’s health-care environment. Table 16–13

details applications of King’s work beyond nursing.

Recommendations for

Knowledge Development

Related to King’s

Framework and Theory

Obviously, new nursing knowledge has resulted

from applications of King’s framework and theory.

However, nursing, as are all sciences, is evolving.

Additional work continues to be needed. Based on

a review of the applications previously discussed,

recommendations for future knowledge develop-

ment focus on (1) the need for evidenced-based

CHAPTER 16 Applications of King’s Theory of Goal Attainment 259

King

Gill, Hopwood-Jones, Tyndall, Gregoroff, LeBlanc, Lovett, Rasco, and Ross

Byrne-Coker, Fradley, Harris, Tomarchio, Chan, and Caron

Frey and Norris

Calladine

Woods

Schreiber

1984

1995

1990

1997

1996

1992

1991

Bramlett, Gueldner, and Sowell

Tritsch

Hampton

Sowell and Lowenstein

Hampton

1990

1996

1994

1994

1994

Table 16–11 Application within the Nursing Process and Related Languages

TOPIC AUTHOR(S) YEAR

Documentation

Nursing diagnoses

Nursing process

Table 16–12 Application to Health Care beyond Nursing

TOPIC AUTHOR(S) YEAR

Advocacy

Case management

Managed care