Nursing’s Need for
Nursing Theory
Nursing theories address the phenomena of inter-
est to nursing, including the focus of nursing; the
person, group, or population nursed; the nurse; the
relationship of nurse and nursed; and the hoped-
for goal or purposes of nursing. Based on strongly
Theories are patterns that guide the think-
ing about, being, and doing of nursing.held values and beliefs about nursing, and within
contexts of various worldviews, theories are pat-
terns that guide the thinking about, being, and
doing of nursing. They provide structure for devel-
oping, evaluating, and using nursing scholarship
and for extending and refining nursing knowledge
through research. Nursing theories either implicitly
or explicitly direct all avenues of nursing, including
nursing education and administration. Nursing
theories provide concepts and designs that define
the place of nursing in health and illness care.
Through theories, nurses are offered perspectives
for relating with professionals from other disci-
plines who join with nurses to provide human serv-
ices. Nursing has great expectations of its theories.
At the same time, theories must provide structure
and substance to ground the practice and scholar-
ship of nursing and also be flexible and dynamic to
keep pace with the growth and changes in the dis-
cipline and practice of nursing.
NURSING IS A DISCIPLINE
Nursing has taken its place as a discipline of knowl-
edge that includes networks of facts, concepts, and
approaches to inquiry. The discipline of nursing is
also a community of scholars, including nurses
in all nursing venues, who share a commitment
to values, concepts, and processes to guide the
The discipline of nursing is a community
of scholars, including nurses in all venues,
where nursing occurs.thought and work of the discipline. The classic
work of King and Brownell (1976) is consistent
with thinking of nursing scholars about the disci-
pline of nursing (Donaldson & Crowley, 1978;
Meleis, 1977). These authors have set forth attrib-
utes of all disciplines. These have particular rele-
vance for nursing and illustrate the need for
nursing theory. The attributes of King and
Brownell are used as a framework to address the
need of the discipline for nursing theory. Each of
the attributes is described next, from the perspec-
tive of the nursing discipline.
Expression of Human Imagination
Nursing theory is dependent on the imagination
and questioning of nurses in practice and on their
creativity to bring ideas of nursing theory into
practice. In order to remain dynamic and useful,
our discipline requires openness to new ideas and
innovative approaches that grow out of members’
reflections and insights.
Domain
A discipline of knowledge and professional practice
must be clearly defined by statements of the do-
main—the theoretical and practical boundaries
of that discipline and practice. The domain of nurs-
ing includes the phenomena of interest, problems
to be addressed, main content and methods used,
and roles required of the discipline’s members
(Kim, 1997; Meleis, 1997). The processes and prac-
tices claimed by members of the discipline commu-
nity grow out of these domain statements. Nursing
theories containing descriptions of nursing’s do-
main may incorporate a statement of the disci-
pline’s focus. The focus may be set in statements
about human, social, and ecological concerns
addressed by nursing. The focus of the nursing
discipline is a clear statement of social mandate
and service used to direct the study and practice
of nursing (Newman, Sime, & Corcoran-Perry,
1991).
Nightingale (1859/1992) may have led the call
for domain and focus by distinguishing nursing
from medicine and other services. Later,
Donaldson and Crowley (1978) stated that a disci-
pline has a special way of viewing phenomena and
a distinct perspective that defines the work of the
discipline. The call for clarity of focus continues in
the current environment of nursing practice (Parse,
1997). Nursing theories set forth focus statements
or definitions of the discipline and practice of nurs-
ing and direct thought and action to fulfill the8 SECTION I Perspectives on Nursing Theory