Rough Draft- PART 2

Nursing Theory Comparison Paper Rough Draft

Lisney Rodriguez Gutierrez

West Coast University

NURS 500 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice

Professor, Cheryl Groenhoff

October 6, 2022

Introduction

The selected nursing theorist for this task comprises A Recovery alliance theory of mental health nursing, the middle range theorist, and grand nursing theories based on human needs, which are grand theorists. A Recovery Alliance Theory (RAT) is based on a humanistic viewpoint. Alternatively, the human needs theory insists on improving the patients' freedom and converging on their basic needs to improve their progress after hospitalization.

Background of Each Theorist

The nursing human need theory was developed by a nurse theorist known as Virginia Avenel Henderson. In her work, Virginia defined nursing as all activities performed by nurses and to which they contribute to the process of healing sick people. He termed the nurse's actions unique, requiring essential forte and enough skills and familiarity with performing the same. Virginia (the nurse theorist) was the fifth born among eight siblings in her family. After her birth, which took place in1987 in Kansas City, she was named after the nation her mom yearned for (Virginia) (Fortin, 2006). They lived in Missouri, in Kansas City, until she reached four years; after that, they returned to Virginia. Virginia joined her primary school, Bellevue, which belonged to her grandfather. Virginia studied her primary education in Virginia. After completing her early education, she joined the Army school of nursing at Walter Reed Hospital (Where his aunt and uncle studied), where she graduated with a diploma in nursing. She began her first teaching job in 1923 before going for her bachelor's degree and later for her master's degree in 1932 and 1934, respectively.

A recovery alliance theory of mental health nursing can be traced back to the "mother of psychiatric nursing," Hildegard Peplau, an American nurse (Shanley & Jubb‐Shanley, 2007). Hildegard was born in 1909 to German immigrants in a place known as Reading, Pennsylvania where she was also raised together with other siblings. He was the second born among the sex children of Gustav and Ollie. Peplau was schooled at Pottstown hospital school of nursing, where she graduated with a diploma in nursing; later (in 1943) earned her degree in interpersonal psychology from Bennington College, where she worked as a school nurse. Years later, she completed her master’s and doctoral degrees from the teacher's college at Columbia University.

Philosophical Underpinnings

Virginia's desire to help in nursing inspired her to keep pushing in her career after education. The research on “remedy nurses’ views” also contributed much to her sticking to her profession as it helped her to inaugurate her profession's intelligent reinforcements. Hildegard was inspired by a distressing flu outbreak of 1918. This time she gained personal knowledge of how illnesses and the death of loved ones affect family members. He was, therefore, motivated to work hard and try to bring changes in the health field. Coming from illiterate parents who never mentioned any higher education in the family, she thought to be the only hope for the family. Her desire to want more out of life made her keep pushing toward achieving her dreams.

Major Assumptions, Concepts, and Relationships

The assumptions identified by Henderson in this theory are that; the patients are taken care of by nurses until they reach a stage where they can fully care for themselves. The second supposition denotes that nurses are willing to serve and will always dedicate themselves to the patient day in and day out. The third assumption, per Henderson is that nurses should be educated and at least have attained a college degree in arts and sciences to be able to operate well in their line of duty.

The nursing theory addresses four concepts: the human being, the surroundings, healthiness, and nursing. In the individual concept, the theory presents the patient as a summation of the portions comprising biophysical wants rather than a customer. Therefore, this person has necessities that are elements of health, and he or she, therefore, requires assistance to achieve good health or peaceful demise. The environment concept comprises the atmosphere and conditions provided to the patient, which is provided by nursing. Likewise, the environment may also comprise the individual's relationships and family and all other external circumstances and influences that might affect their growth. The relationship between these concepts is that individuals are surrounded by an environment that should be healthy to ensure their existence. Therefore, nursing comes in to provide a healthy environment for individuals.

Assumptions denoted by Recover Alliance Theory are that; someone's recovery is self-directed in that everyone is responsible for their healing. Therefore, the earlier one accepts he or she has a mental issue, the better (Hartley et al., 2020). The theory also assumes that a person's recovery has ups and downs and that there is no more straightforward way to heal. People should therefore get ready to deal with the challenges involved. Finally, the third assumption states that individual path toward healing differs and depends on their personal needs, experiences, likes, and preferences. Therefore, healing processes are different for everyone despite having similar symptoms.

The central concept of recovery alliance theory comprises; working agreement, coping, self-responsibility, and management. The operating agreement entails the partnership relationship between the patient and the therapist. The concepts insist on high collaboration and affinity to ensure a positive outcome. Likewise, the coping outcome involves altering some cognitive and behavioral pains to handle precise interior or exterior forces which are appraised as challenging or beyond the patient’s possessions. As per the theory, for easy healing, people with mental health issues should try to regulate their issues and manage any source of their distress for easier recovery. Therefore, by use of recovery alliance theory, these people are provided with diverse strategies to cope with their inner voice, self-harm conducts, and any other abnormal thoughts which may arise.

Furthermore, the concept of self-responsibility and control denotes that mental health patients are responsible for their healing. Thus, it is their prime duty to recognize and accept the fact that they have a mental issue. With this knowledge, they will be able to identify their specific ailment and deal with it. However, the earlier the patient recognizes his or her actions, which lead to the situations they are in, the earlier they can control themselves and their doings.

The relationship between these concepts can be seen in the patient’s possible development and improvement in mental health nursing procedures, which help people manage their conditions as they focus on the healing process. Through nursing procedures, patients are encouraged to diminish their unenthusiastic effects by employing positive possessions in their exterior and internal surroundings. These processes involve generating optimism and empowering those dealing with mental health issues.

Clinical Application of Each Theorist

Henderson's need theory can be used in nursing exercises to ensure the success of several things, including informing the nursing exercise, advancing care strategy, and improving patient results for a better eminence of life. The theory can be used by individuals who are studying nursing or are willing to study the same in informing the essentials of nursing practice. Likewise, it can be used to provide better results for patients. Nurses can use the theory to set goals based on Henderson's fourteen components. Meeting the goal of achieving the fourteen components can improve the nurses towards their duty and impact the happiness of patients who had lost hope in their lives. Likewise, need theory explains to professors' teaching nursing practices how best to instill the concepts in their students.

The recovery alliance theory can be well applied in mental health centers such as rehabs to improve the relationship between the nurses and the patients. With this theory, the patient can understand the significance of health practitioners in their recovery. Likewise, the theory can be applied in helping mental health patients admit their conditions and work towards healing.

Comparison of the Use of Theories in Nursing Practice

Nursing human need theory is extensive and gives an overall structure of configuring thoughts in the healthcare field. For instance, it gives a diverse way of improving nursing activities between healthcare practitioners and patients in all health departments. Furthermore, it states the concepts with which the nurses should be instilled without specifying the exact nurses. This gives the human need theory the ability to have many variables. Alternatively, recovery alliance theory in mental healthcare specifically addresses issues concerning mental health as its name denotes, thus possessing few numbers of variables (Wright, 2021). Therefore, human need theory is widely used in health, while recovery alliance theory is used explicitly in mental health.

Specific Examples of How the Theories Could Be Applied To Specific Clinical Settings

The nursing human need theory can be used in hospitals by health practitioners to advise patients regarding things like diet, the importance of physical exercise, and the benefits of avoiding stress. Doing this improves the patient's perception of their illness, thus instilling hope in them (Hoeck & Delmar, 2018). Likewise, the need theory can also be used in improving clients' health in the hospital by monitoring their health to ensure the best results are achieved from their practices. On the other hand, in clinics and hospitals, the need theory can be applied to advancing care by ensuring proper documentation of patient's medical history and symptoms to ensure the root cause of their illnesses is determined and administering the best medications and treatments to save lives. Furthermore, the need theory is used in a hospital to instill hope in rehabilitated patients. The health practitioners put sense to the patients by providing tutoring, therapy, and offering issues management, which helps improve the individuals’ environment.

An example where recovery alliance theory could be applied is during counseling or when dealing with depressed individuals in rehabs and therapeutic centers.

Parsimony

One uncomplicated way to apply Henderson's theory is when teaching nursing students. The concepts can be helpful to them as they can help them realize their duty. Likewise, health practitioners can use the theory when dealing with sick people in the hospital. Offering warm and kind treatment to patients helps in easing their recovery process. Furthermore, conducting dialogue with patients creates a conducive environment where they can share their worries and anxieties. Through this, one can determine their problems and know the best ways to control them.

The simplest ways of applying recovery alliance theory are when advising a distressed person. In this, the earlier the individual accepts he or she is distressed, the better. With acceptance, the psychiatrist will look for better strategies to help them deal with their distress.

Conclusion

Nursing theories provide insights into nursing activities in different clinical settings. Some offer broad healthcare knowledge, while others offer precise knowledge concerning a specific area. For example, the recovery alliance theory of mental health nursing gives an insight into the best ways to deal with mental health issues. On the other hand, the human need theory stresses improving patients' freedom by fulfilling their basic needs while in the hospital. Therefore, the two theories are applied differently. For instance, human need theory is applied in informing nursing care, advancing care strategy, and improving patient results for a better eminence of life. Alternatively, the recovery alliance theory can be used to improve the relationship between the health practitioners and the patients and the patient's knowledge concerning their ailments and how to approach them.

References

Fortin, J. (2006). Human needs and nursing theory.  Kim HS, Kollak I. Nursing Theories: conceptual and philosophical foundations. Nova York: Springer Publishing, pp. 10–26.

Hartley, S., Raphael, J., Lovell, K., & Berry, K. (2020). Effective nurse-patient relationships in mental health care: A systematic review of interventions to improve the therapeutic alliance. International Journal of Nursing Studies, p. 102, 103490.

Hoeck, B., & Delmar, C. (2018). Theoretical development in the context of nursing—The hidden epistemology of nursing theory.  Nursing Philosophy,  19(1), e12196.

Shanley, E., & Jubb‐Shanley, M. (2007). The recovery alliance theory of mental health nursing.  Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing,  14(8), 734-743.

Wright, K. M. (2021). Exploring the therapeutic relationship in nursing theory and practice.  Mental Health Practice.