today, worldwide, and she is one of our greatest liv-
ing thinkers. Dr. Roy shakes her head on hearing
these premature epitaphs and notes that her best
work is yet to come. As a theorist, Dr. Roy often em-
phasizes her primary commitment to define and
develop nursing knowledge and regards her work
with the Roy Adaptation Model as one rich source
of knowledge for clinical nursing. Early in the new
century, Dr. Roy has provided an expanded, values-
based concept of adaptation based on insights
related to the place of the person in the universe.
She hopes her redefinition of adaptation, with its
cosmic philosophical and scientific assumptions,
will become the basis for developing knowledge
that will make nursing a major social force in the
century to come.
Dr. Roy credits her major influences in personal
and professional growth as her family, her religious
commitment, and her teachers and mentors. Dr.
Roy was born in Los Angeles, California, on October
14, 1939. Her mother was a licensed vocational
nurse and instilled the values of always seeking to
know more about people and their care, and of self-
less giving as a nurse. At age 14 she began working
at a large general hospital, first as a pantry girl, then
as a maid, and finally as a nurse’s aid. After soul-
searching, she entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph of
Carondelet, of which she has been a member for
more than 40 years. Her college education began
with a bachelor of arts degree with a major in nurs-
ing at Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, fol-
lowed by master’s degrees in pediatric nursing and
sociology at the University of California, Los
Angeles, and a PhD in sociology at the same school.
Later, Dr. Roy had the opportunity to be a clinical
nurse scholar in a two-year postdoctoral program in
neuroscience nursing at the University of California
at San Francisco. Important mentors in her life have
included Dorothy E. Johnson, Ruth Wu, Connie
Robinson, and Barbara Smith Moran.
Dr. Roy is still best known for developing and
continually updating the Roy Adaptation Model as
a framework for theory, practice, administration,
and research in nursing. Books on the model have
been translated into many languages, including
French, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Chinese, Korean,
and Japanese. Two recent publications that Dr. Roy
considers of great significance are The Roy
Adaptation Model (2nd edition), written with
Heather Andrews (Appleton & Lange); and The Roy
Adaptation Model-Based Research: Twenty-Five
Years of Contributions to Nursing Science,published
as a research monograph by Sigma Theta Tau. The
latter is a critical analysis of the 25 years of model-
based literature, which includes 163 studies
published in 46 English-speaking journals, disser-
tations, and theses. This project was completed by
the Boston-Based Adaptation Research Society in
Nursing (BBARSN), a group of scholars founded
by Dr. Roy in the interest of advancing nursing
practice by developing basic and clinical nursing
knowledge based on the Roy Adaptation Model.
One of Dr. Roy’s major recent activities was
cochairing the annual Knowledge Conferences
hosted by the Boston College School of Nursing be-
tween 1996 and 2001, which developed into a book
on knowledge for practice and was coauthored with
Dr. Dorothy Jones. Being a teacher and a mentor to
doctoral students in nursing is another role that she
cherishes, and she extends that influence by serving
on the Board of the International Network for
Doctoral Education in Nursing. Dr. Roy has been a
major speaker on topics related to nursing theory,
research, curriculum, clinical practice, and profes-
sional trends for the future.
Dr. Roy has played a major role in at least 35
research projects, including the development and
testing of a measure of Coping and Adaptation
Processing (CAPS). Results of research and papers
on nursing knowledge have appeared in Image:
Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Nursing Science
Quarterly, Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice,
Biological Research for Nursing,and other journals.
During 2000, two papers were published in Nursing
Administration Quarterlythat focused on looking
to the future of nursing. Dr. Roy’s current clinical
research continues her long-time interest in neuro-
science. She is currently continuing her research on
cognitive recovery and is working with families to
use information processing practice to help pa-
tients who have sustained mild head injuries, as
well as promoting adaptation of patients with acute
and chronic health challenges.Introducing the Theory
The Roy Adaptation Model has been in use for
approximately 35 years, providing direction for
nursing practice, education, administration, and
research. Extensive implementation efforts around
the world, and continuing philosophical andCHAPTER 17 Sister Callista Roy’s Adaptation Model and Its Applications 269