CONCEPT & THEORY

DEVELOPMENT IN NURSING
WEEK 3: JANUARY 22ND, 2019
REQUIRED READINGS

Textbook: McEwen & Wills (2019), Chapter 3 & 4

WHAT IS A CONCEPT?
 may be one word, two words, or a phrase
McEwen & Wills (2019)

 “..terms that refer to a phenomena that occur in nature or in thought”

McEwen & Wills (2019, p. 50)

 “…a symbolic statement describing a phenomenon or a class of phenomena”

Kim (2012, p. 22)
TYPES OF CONCEPTS

Abstract Concrete

Variable (continuous) Nonvariable (discrete)

Theoretically defined Operationally defined

McEwen & Wills (2019)

SOURCES OF CONCEPTS

Sources of
Concepts

Research-
Naturalistic Existing
Based
Concepts Concepts
Concepts

McEwen & Wills (2019)

Naturalistic Concepts
body weight
hemodynamic complications

depression
pain

McEwen & Wills (2019)

Research-Based Concepts
resilience

hope

grief

chronic disease cultural competence

self-management

McEwen & Wills (2019)

Existing Concepts

job satisfaction
adaptation

quality of life
suffering abuse

McEwen & Wills (2019)

 CONCEPT ANALYSIS/DEVELOPMENT
 terminology: concept analysis, concept development, concept synthesis

 purpose: identify, define, and clarify concepts that describe a phenomena

 serve as a foundation for the development of frameworks, theories, and

research studies

 evolving nature of knowledge- concepts are continuously being investigated

and refined

 shared/borrowed concepts- apply nursing lens

CONCEPT ANALYSIS/DEVELOPMENT
Concept analysis can be applied to examine the degree of development of
nursing concepts via:

 detecting gaps in nursing knowledge

 identifying the need for refinement or clarification of a concept has
various meanings
 evaluating contending concepts as they relate to other phenomena
 exploring how the definition of a concept aligns with the way in which it
is operationalized
 determining the fit between the clinical application of the concept and it’s
definition
WHAT CONCEPTS ARE OF INTEREST TO
NURSES?
-chemo brain
Successful aging
-palliative care in
neonatal

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METHODS FOR CONCEPT ANALYSIS/
DEVELOPMENT
Various methods for concept development/analysis exist. Methods
include but are not limited to:
 Walker & Avant
 Rodgers
 Schwartz-Barcott & Kim
 Morse
 Penrod & Hupcey
THEORY DEVELOPMENT IN NURSING

Chapter 4
WHAT IS A THEORY?

“In nursing, theories are systematic explanations of events in

which constructs and concepts are identified; relationships are
proposed, and predictions are made to describe, explain,
predict, or prescribe practice and research”

(Dickoff, James, & Wiedenbach, 1968; Streubert & Carpenterm 2011) – as cited in McEwen & Wills (2019, p. 72)
WHERE DO THEORIES COME FROM?

“Theories are not discovered; rather, they are

constructed or developed to describe, explain, or
understand phenomena or solve nagging problems”

McEwen & Wills (2019, p 72)

TEXTBOOK TERMINOLOGY
 theory construction, theory building, theory development, theory
generation.

 theory development- used a broad term as it refers to the processes and

method used to create and refine theories.

 theory construction- when the elements of a theory are structured and

linkages identified  the final step of theory development
McEwen & Wills (2019)
THEORY DEVELOPMENT
 complex and time intensive process

 involves multiple stages

 process starts with identification of concepts (1+) from a discipline

 the identified concepts are then further distinguished and linked to one
another in propositions or statements that can be submitted to empirical
testing Chinn & Kramer (2015); Peterson (2017); Reynolds (1971)

McEwen & Wills (2019)

CATEGORIZATION OF THEORIES

1 Scope / Level of Abstraction

2 Purpose

3 Source / Discipline
McEwen & Wills (2019)
CATEGORIZATION: SCOPE

McEwen & Wills (2019, p. 75)

CATEGORIZATION: PURPOSE
1 descriptive theories

2 explanatory theories

3 predictive theories

4 prescriptive theories
CATEGORIZATION: SOURCE / DISCIPLINE

sociological behavioral biomedical

sciences sciences sciences

administration &
management learning theories
sciences

McEwen & Wills (2019)

 COMPONENTS OF A THEORY
 purpose

 concepts & conceptual definitions

 theoretical statements

 existence statements

 relational statements
 associational/correlational
 casual McEwen & Wills (2019)
 COMPONENTS OF A THEORY

structures and linkages

assumptions

models
THEORY DEVELOPMENT

McEwen & Wills (2019, p. 82)

THEORY DEVELOPMENT: APPROACHES

 theory – practice – theory

 practice – theory

 research – theory

 theory – research – theory

McEwen & Wills (2019)

 STEPS IN THEORY DEVELOPMENT

testing of theoretical
relationships
application of
theory to practice
theory construction
statement development

concept development

McEwen & Wills (2019)

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