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Middle Range Nursing Theory Essay

GOAL:
Analyze and evaluate a middle range theory. You will select a middle range theory and identify application of nursing theories into clinical practice.

 

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:
• The paper is to be clear and concise and students will lose points for improper grammar, punctuation and misspelling.
• The paper should be formatted per current APA and references should be current (published within last five years) scholarly journal articles or primary legal sources (statutes, court opinions.)
• The paper is to be 3 – 5 pages in length, excluding the title, abstract and references page.
• Incorporate a minimum of 3 current (published within last five years) scholarly journal articles or primary legal sources (statutes, court opinion)

 

CONTENT REQUIREMENTS:
1) Components of the theory
o Discuss the major concepts of the theory
o Philosophical basis or worldview change, advancing health

2) Structural aspects of the theory
o Discuss the framework of the theory.

3) Identify an area of your practice where this theory could be applicable
o What question does the theory help to answer?
o Describe the area of interest in relationship to the theory/theoretical model.
o Is it appropriate for the practice setting and is it applicable?
o Discuss the strength and weakness of the theory. If there is weakness, discuss what makes it difficult to be used in practice.

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4) Use of theory in clinical practice.
o Performing a literature review is essential to completing this section. If there is no literature available about the application of this theory in practice, address reason(s) why based on your findings.
5) Evaluation of theory
o Is this theory used to understand and apply into practice?
o What difficulties did you encounter or would anticipate encountering in using this theory?
o What would make this theory more usable or applicable to practice?

 

Middle Range Theory
Abstract
The middle range theory consists of patterns and types of transitions when the integrative approach is used to examine the theory development. The transitions by the theory majorly focus on change in the health of individuals and illness in general, however, there are more valuable risks that may affect the health of the clients in transition. The transition of the theory has therefore been analyzed and all its components are identified as a central concept of nursing. Due to the adversity brought by the development of middle range theory, nursing is particularly concerned with the clients and individuals in this transition process. The concept of the resilience of the theory is defined by the ability of the theory to transform a health disaster into growth and better experience which is consistent with the simultaneity paradigm of nursing sciences (Cartwright, 2020).

Introduction
The theory is essential to the nursing knowledge structure, there are nine middle-range theories demonstrating the ongoing use and their application in the nursing knowledge. The theories lie between the minors but are necessary hypotheses in the nursing knowledge, Waston’s theory of human caring being my selected middle range theory is an explanatory theory generated and tested using correlational research means. This middle age nursing theory is important in the nursing knowledge as will be discussed in the rest of the work because it provides a view which is middle reality particularly generalized areas of practice in the clinical practice. The theory has been developed using an inductive approach making it operationalized into a measurable form in the clinical practice. It majorly focuses on and offers many concrete relationships and connections between the old nursing theories and the current nursing practices (Alharbi & Baker, 2020).

Components of Waston’s Theory of Human Caring
The major conceptual elements of Waston’s theory of human caring include Caritas processes and the provision of a conducive healing environment for patients in the clinical practice. It highlights the need for re-examination of the importance of nursing theory to guide different clinical practices. Jean Waston’s caring science defines nursing as a caring act to embrace positive energy in both the nurse and the patient. Waston’s theory of human care is built upon creative factors which include; embracing, co-create, inspiring, ministering, trusting, balancing, opening, deepening, nurturing, and forgiving. It teaches the need to address the individual needs in the clinical practices, as well as embracing altruistic values and practicing kindness and loving with others and self which is applied in nursing in the clinical practices. As the theory focuses on the provision of a healing environment, part of its components is respect for human dignity in clinical practices which co-relate to the basic physical, spiritual, and emotional human needs. From the creative factors, the theory deepens in the clinical scientific methods in solving problems for caring decision making, this is as well as nurturing the trusting, helping, and caring relationships between the nurse and the patient in clinical practice. Waston’s theory of human care, therefore, has four major concepts which are health, human being, environment, and nursing (Watson & Woodward, 2020). It majors on the application of art and science of human caring in clinical practices portraying its application in nursing knowledge. The components of this theory, therefore, elaborated the science of human care in clinical practices as the main subject.

 

Concepts of Waston’s Theory of Human Caring
Concepts being the basic building blocks of this theory, the major concepts of Waston’s nursing theory is as elusive as nursing and caring. If the concept of nursing and caring are placed in the middle reality as in Waston’s theory of human caring and other theories in the middle range theory, nursing is therefore defined by this theory in a way that it majorly incorporates the action part in clinical practices. It allows for a caring presence to be present in the patient’s mind with or without the physical presence of a nurse during the clinical practices (Nikfarid et al., 2018). The theory has a consistent scientific perspective making it measurable including facts when tested in the nursing knowledge being an absolute verifier. In its concepts also, it supports a focus on the aggregate or community while still attending to an individual in the clinical practice particularly the nurse and the patient.
Waston’s Theory of Human Caring World View Change, Advancing Health
Waston’s human caring theory has been used widely to guide clinical practices, particularly the nursing process as it continues to evolve in guiding the discipline of nursing. Waston’s Human Caring Theory is therefore used as an underlying guide in helping to enrich the relations between humans and humans in the clinical practice by creating a caring-healing environment for a patient by the nurse. The theory is applied by inter professional teams and healthcare professionals including nurses to find caring consciousness during clinical practices thus promoting patient care. The theory is widely used in guiding nursing education, research, and clinical practices internationally as the theory shows an aim of promoting patient’s general health including psychological health, nurse engagement during clinical practices, and confidence in all the clinical practices and performance.

Structural Aspects of Watson’s Theory of Human Caring
The aspects, theory is based on ten major aspects as will be discussed in this section, embrace which are mainly loving-kindness is one of the aspects. The enacting of loving-kindness by Waston’s theory opens the patient and nurse’s minds up to connectedness. Also, inspiration is one of the aspects of the theory, this aspect is major in faith-hope. Trust is the third aspect of the theory, this major on transpersonal self. Nurture which majorly focuses on relationships is the fourth aspect of Waston’s Theory of Human Caring. Forgiveness is also an aspect of Waston’s theory where the theory provides the need to acknowledge both positive and negative feelings without judgment. Another aspect is deepening which majors on self-creativeness to optimize the outcome of caring science (Aghaei et al., 2020). In addition, balance, co-create, minister, and open are the other structural aspects of Waston’s Theory of Human Caring, these majors are on learning, Caritas field, humanity, and infinity respectively.

Areas of Practice where Waston’s Theory of Human Caring is Applicable
The theory is majorly applicable in nursing education and the clinical processes, in general, the care settings. Nurses apply Waston’s theory in their clinical practices by listening to patients, seeing a clear picture of the person behind the disease by paying the necessary attention to what they say, as well as taking care of themselves. The theory also applies in nursing care as the theory, holistic approach for a recommended health care is pivoted on caring in nursing. The theory is therefore applied to patients in several ways, the care for the body, the care for the mind, and the emotional care as its aspects revolve around general human well-being (Wang et al., 2020). The theory addresses the issue of incomplete human health care. Waston’s theory is therefore appropriate and applicable in the clinical practices between the patient and the nurse. It is applicable in all the human caring processes during clinical practices and the healing process.

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Waston’s Theory of Human Caring
Waston’s theory has several strengths including providing the nurse with flexibility during the clinical practices. Another strength is that the theory does not restrict the nurse to exactly follow the standards set for clinical practices and clinical tools. On the other hand, its strength is also realized as it is a trans personal caring theory focusing on the individual who is the patient or the nurse and not the illness or disease therefore full responsibility and comprehensive healthcare are realized. In addition, another strength of Waston’s theory is that it allows the nurse to fully utilize the different methods of interaction with the patients during the clinical practices. However, Waston’s Theory of Human Caring also has its weaknesses forming part of its limitations. The main weakness of the theory is that it lacks relevance in today’s nursing following the acuity of illness and diseases and the ratio between patients and nurses therefore the theory is not practical. Another weakness of Waston’s theory is that it gives the biophysical needs of the patient less concern.

Evaluation of Waston’s Theory of Human Caring
The theory has been used to understand the value of caring in nursing and applied in clinical practices. Several difficulties are encountered during the application of this theory in clinical practice as the current nurses-patients ratio makes it inapplicable. Difficulties are also encountered during the process of interaction between the nurse and the patient as some patients do not practice the art and science of self-care (Wei et al., 2019). To make this theory more applicable, the ratio of nurses should be increased to match those of patients, on the other hand, patients should be taught the art and science of self-care.

 

References
Aghaei, M. H., Vanaki, Z., & Mohammadi, E. (2020). Watson’s Human Caring Theory-Based Palliative Care: A Discussion Paper. International Journal of Cancer Management, 13(6).
Alharbi, K., & Baker, O. G. (2020). Jean Watson’s middle range theory of human caring: A critique. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (IJAMSR) ISSN: 2581-4281, 3 (1), 1-14.
Cartwright, N. (2020). Middle-range theory. Theoria: An International Journal for Theory, History, and Foundations of Science, 35(3), 269-323.
Gunawan, J., Aungsuroch, Y., Watson, J., & Marzilli, C. (2022). Nursing Administration: Watson’s Theory of Human Caring. Nursing Science Quarterly, 35(2), 235-243.
Wang, Y., Zhang, Y., Liu, M., Zhou, L., Zhang, J., Tao, H., & Li, X. (2020). Research on the formation of humanistic care ability in nursing students: A structural equation approach. Nurse Education Today, 86, 104315.
Watson, J., & Woodward, T. (2020). Jean Watson’s theory of human caring. SAGE Publications Limited.
Wei, H., Fazzone, P. A., Sitzman, K., & Hardin, S. R. (2019). The Current Intervention Studies Based on Watson’s Theory of Human Caring: A Systematic Review. International Journal for Human Caring, 23(1).