RESPONSE
QUESTIONS TO RESPOND TO:
Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.
Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
DISCUSSION
Middle-range theory in nursing has been gaining momentum since the 1990s and is a growing contemporary trend in the development of evidence-based practice (McEwen & Wills, 2018). Middle-range theory is preferred by nursing researchers because it provides a more realistic view to addressing concepts in current healthcare and delivery. DeSanto-Madeya and Fawcett discuss the need to translate past conceptual models into middle range theories for more practical application (2009). Middle-range theories in research may be explicitly mentioned or remain implicit, using the study aims to base the name of the theory (Fawcett & Garity, 2009). When used effectively, a middle-range theory is applied with theoretical significance to illuminate concepts requiring further knowledge development and exploration to improve clinical practice. For example, if the theory does not offer new insights into what is known or not known about a specific concern, it is deemed insignificant and useless in the further development of healthcare delivery (Fawcett & Garity, 2009). Mentioning the theoretical focus of previous research studies, and how the current study will expand on or further investigate those findings promotes theoretical significance.
As a DNP-prepared nurse, examining the literature for current evidence-based practices is paramount (Moran et al., 2019). This process warrants an understanding of popular middle-range nursing theories but may also require the development of new theories to support practice. In my role as a DNP-prepared nurse, I foresee a need to accurately identify these middle-range theories in research and evaluate their effectiveness in everyday practice. Examining the research question, purpose, and concepts, a theoretical basis can be assumed (Gray et al., 2017). Assessing whether the middle-range nursing theory used contributes to the practice problem is important in the advancement of nursing science. Without a strong theoretical base, research may be misguided or ambiguous, and ultimately contribute minimally to the improvement of clinical practice. A clear understanding of common middle-range nursing theories is imperative, not only to easily identify these theories in research and practice but also to recognize gaps in nursing theory to improve knowledge generation in the clinical setting.
References
DeSanto‐Madeya, S., & Fawcett, J. (2009). Toward understanding and measuring adaptation level in the context of the roy adaptation model. Nursing Science Quarterly, 22(4), 355–359. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318409344753
Fawcett, J., & Garity, J. (2009). Chapter 6: Evaluation of middle-range theories. In Evaluating research for evidence-based nursing (pp. 73–88). F.A. Davis. https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=402e6c3a-a838-4212-9bdd-c6b8aab6b5f2%40pdc-v-sessmgr02
Gray, J. R., Grove, S. K., & Sutherland, S. (2017). Burns & grove's the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (8th ed.). Saunders Elsevier.
McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2018). Theoretical basis for nursing (5th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.