Class 2 Unit 10 DISCUSSION (DQ)

Where Did the Theory Come From

This Assignment addresses this course outcome:

MN502-2: Explain how theoretical frameworks influence advance.

Purpose

The purpose of this Assignment is to explore how a theorist explicates his or her philosophy and thoughts behind a theoretical field. As in other fields of study, nursing has a plethora of theorists and theories. These theorists have developed their paradigm over time enriching it with research and dialogue with other theorists.

Directions

You are going to explore how a theorist of your choice created his or her theory. Did it develop as an acorn becoming a mighty oak over the decades? Did it arrive as a burst of light like the big bang as some believe created our universe? Was it developed from a blueprint like a spaceship where thousands of scholars worked together to create a rocket to the moon? In point of fact, how is a theory developed? This is what we are exploring.

You will pick a theorist who interests you, it does not have to be a nurse theorist. You may also choose from other disciplines such as: behavioral, leadership, business, education, technology.

You will become the theorist immersing yourself in the writings from the earliest mentioned to the most current.

As you read, look at how you (taking on the persona of the theorist) developed the theory.

In the first stage, theorizing occurs. This is where you, as the theorist, identify the concepts of what nursing is and is not. Perhaps you questioned what concepts were guiding those in nursing practice and then started to question your role. You started asking yourself, “Where am I in nursing, and where the profession is going? Is there some overarching concept that guides the professional in his or her practice?” This is where you recognize that a theory is needed.

In the second stage, syntax is developed. This is where you will define the terms. Look for changing definitions of terms. Consider, for example, Jean Watson. She starts by defining the word “caring.” Within the last ten years she has refined her terminology changing the term caring to caritas. This demonstrates a growth and maturation from decades of research she and other scholars did to produce the theory of caring.

The third stage is theory testing. Defined as the phenomena behind the theory that are exposed through research. The definitions of terms are refined. The theorists and other researchers consider whether this theory helps answer questions that arise in practice. This is where your theory is used in by a widening group of researchers. For example, graduate nursing students request the tool you developed while testing your theory.

The fourth and last stage is evaluation. This is where philosophical debate occurs as the concepts are applied through evidenced based practice in the act of providing nursing care.

Assignment Details

For this Assignment, you are going to write an article for a nursing journal explaining how you developed your theory through the four stages (theorizing, syntax, theory testing, and evaluation). Your paper must be 3 to 5 pages, not including the title and reference pages.

Human to Human Relationship Model by Joyce Travelbee

MN502 Unit 5 Assignment

Human to Human Relationship Model

The Human-to-Human Relationship Model was developed by Joyce Travelbee (1926-1973). The theorist dealt with interpersonal relationship aspects in the nursing profession. In the theory, she sought to explain the human-to-human relationship as a means for fulfilling the purpose of nursing. The theorist was a psychiatric nurse and an educator who completed her BSN degree a Master of Science Degree in Nursing. She worked as a Psychiatric Nursing Instructor in New Orleans at the DePaul Hospital Affiliate School. This discussion considers the processes that the theory has gone through from its inception to the current application in the field of nursing.

Theorizing

The Human to Human Relationship Model looks into the interpersonal aspects in the nursing profession. It specifically focuses on the mental health aspect of nursing. According to Joyce Travelbee, human-to-human relationship forms the foundation of fulfilling the very purpose of nursing. The theorist based her assumptions on the existentialism and logotherapy concepts developed by Kierkegaard and Frankl respectively (Stasková, &Tóthová, 2015). From the existentialism concept the theory asserts that humans are constantly faced with choices and conflicts and that they are accountable to every choice made in their lives. According to Novianaet al. (2016), the logotherapy in the theory follows a meaning-centered psychotherapy whose basis is the assumption that fulfillment of meaning in life is the sure way to assure protection of an individual against challenges of emotional instability.

With these in mind, the Model of Nursing was developed to offer several important concepts applicable in the nursing practice and profession. First, it is considered that suffering in an individual is an experience varying widely in terms of its intensity, the duration, and the depth. Therefore, it is a feeling that makes one uneasy to the extent of causing discomfort mentally, physically, or emotionally. Further, the theory considers meaning in relationship building as a person-specific reason (Haugan, 2014). Conception of the theory was the need for personal relationship between the patient and the nurse as a therapeutic approach to emotional, mental and physical relief of pain.

Syntax development

The theory offers key definitions of health: the subjective and objective definitions. According to the theory, an individual subjectively defines health in terms of his/her state of well-being depending on self-appraisal of one’s status physically, emotionally, and spiritually. On the other hand, objective health is considered in the theory as the absence of any discernible disease of disability as determined after a physical examination, a test in the laboratory, or an assessment by a psychological counselor or a spiritual director. This means that the perception of patients about their well-being is a function of their individual judgment about their situation. This is largely motivated by the relationship between the patients and the nurse attending to them (Haugan, 2014).

It is also from the theory that we get the definition of nursing as an interpersonal process, in which the professional nurse practitioner plays the assistive role to individual patients, family members of the patients or members of the community. This makes the role of the nurse to be primary in the prevention as well assisting patients and their families to cope with an experience of pain or an illness. According to Haugan (2014), through the relationships built, the nurse should be in position to help the patients and their families to find possible meanings of their experiences.

Theory Testing

Overall, the model emphasizes that nursing is be accomplished through building of relationships among humans (nurses and patients). This begins with the first encounter to the emerging identities, development of empathetic and sympathetic feelings. The theory has been helpful in the understanding of suffering as a human experience that requires external motivation to help the patients as well as their families to cope with the varying intensities, durations of the experience and its depth. Through the establishment of relationships, it has been possible to alleviate feelings of unease among patients in long-term care (Burack, et al., 2012). This includes patients with mild or transient mental discomfort to those faced with extreme pain experience.

It has also helped in redefining nursing practice as an assistive role in patient care. For instance, nurses have lately been required to assist patients to find meaning in their illness and suffering experiences. They also have the responsibility of helping individuals as well as their immediate families to find such meanings. This means that the spiritual and ethical choices of the nurses and the perceptions they have about the illness and suffering of patients they are handling play a crucial role in helping the patients find meaning they need about the pain and suffering they are experiencing (Haugan, 2013).

Further, from the advances of the theory, the nurse has been positioned as a hope giver in patient care. In this regard, it is the role of the nurse to assist patients in maintaining hope while avoiding hopelessness. The theory considers hope's core as a fundamental trust that outlays the world of the patient in pain or suffering by making them believe that others are available to help them when they need such assistance. This means that in such conditions, the patient is strongly dependent on the people around him or her (Haugan, 2013).  The theory has enabled emphasis on the hope of patients as possessing courage that would enable them to acknowledge possible shortcomings and outlay any fears of pain or suffering while forging ahead towards the goal of healing.

Theory Evaluation

Although there is little testing of the theory, there is substantial evidence of its application in nursing practice. At hospital level, the theory is functionally applied in self-actualizing of the life experience of patients and their families through an understanding they get about the meaning of life, sickness, and death. In nursing education, the theory can be applied to teach nurses how to understand and communicate meanings of illness and suffering to patients they are attending to. Last, it can be applied in research as a methodological approach to the theory of long-term patient care such as cancer patients (Burack, et al., 2012).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the human-to-human relationship model is founded on derivable consequences in developing quality care. It offers a description, explanation, prediction, and control of patient care phenomena. Fundamentally, it offers an explanation of variables affecting the development of therapeutic relationships between a nurse and her patients in a care environment.

Burack, O.R., Weiner, A.S., Reinhardt, J.P., &Annunziato, R.A. (2012). What matters most to nursing home elders: Quality of life in the nursing home. J Am Med Dir Assoc.13(1), 48–53.

Haugan, G. (2013). Nurse–patient interaction is a resource for hope, meaning in life and self-transcendence in nursing home patients. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 28(1), 1–211

Haugan, G. (2014). Relationship between nurse–patient interaction and meaning-in-life in cognitively intact nursing home patients. Journal of American Nursing, 70(1), 107–120. DOI: 10.1111/jan.12173

Noviana, U. et al. (2016). Meaning in life: A conceptual model for disaster nursing practice. The Journal of Nursing & Human Sciences (JNHS), 22(S1), 65–75.