Dorothy E. Johnson was born August 21, 1919, in Savannah, Georgia. B. S. N.

from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942; and her M.P.H. from Harvard University in Boston in 1948. From 1949 till retirement in 1978 she was an assistant professor of pediatric nursing, an associate professor of nursing, and a professor of nursing at the University of California in Los Angeles. Johnson stressed the importance of researchbased knowledge about the effect of nursing care on clients.

In 1980 Johnson published her conceptualization of behavioral system of model for nursing where she explains her definitions of the behavioral system model.

Johnsons Behavioral system model is a model of nursing care that advocates the fostering of efficient and effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness. The patient is defined as behavioral system composed of 7 behavioral subsystems. Each subsystem composed of four structural characteristics i.e. drives, set, choices and observable behavior. Three functional requirement of each subsystem includes (1) Protection from noxious influences, (2) Provision for the nurturing environment, and (3) stimulation for growth. Any imbalance in each system results in disequilibrium .it is nursing role to assist the client to return to the state of equilibrium.

Attachment or affiliative subsystem: social inclusion intimacy and the formation and attachment of a strong social bond. Dependency subsystem: approval, attention or recognition and physical assistance Ingestive subsystem: the emphasis is on the meaning and structures of the social events surrounding the occasion when the food is eaten Eliminative subsystem: human cultures have defined different socially acceptable behaviors for excretion of waste ,but the existence of such a pattern remains different from culture to Culture. Sexual subsystem:" both biological and social factor affect the behavior in the sexual subsystem Aggressive subsystem: " it relates to the behaviors concerned with protection and self preservation Johnson views aggressive subsystem as one that generates defensive response from the individual when life or territory is being threatened Achievement subsystem: " provokes behavior that attempt to control the environment intellectual, physical, creative, mechanical and social skills achievement are some of the areas that Johnson recognizes".

Johnson views a person as having two major systems: the biological system and behavioral system. It is the role of medicine to focus on the biological system, whereas nursings focus is on the behavioral system. There is recognition of the reciprocal actions that occur between the biological and behavioral systems when some type of dysfunction occurs in one or the other of the systems.

Health is an elusive state that is affected by social, psychological, biological, and physiological factors. Johnsons behavioral model supports the idea that the individual is striving to retain some balance or equilibrium. The individuals goal is to sustain the entire behavioral system efficiently and effectively but with an adequate amount of flexibility to return an acceptable balance if a malfunction disrupts the original balance

According to Johnson, an individuals behavior is influenced by all the events in the environment. Cultural influences on the individuals behavior are viewed as profound. However, it is evident that there are many factors that influence specific behaviors in a group of people. These factors are believed to vary from culture although the outcomes for all the groups or individuals are the same.

The primary goals of nursing is to cultivate equilibrium within the individual, which allows for the practice of nursing with individuals at any point in the health-illness continuum. Nursing implementation may focus on correction of a behavior that is not concerned to maintaining equilibrium for the individual . In earlier works, Johnson focused nursing on impaired individuals. By 1980, she stated that nursing is concerned with the organized and integrated whole or holistic growth of the individual, but that the chief focus is on maintaining a balance in the behavioral system when illness occurs in the individual.