How did knowledge act as a barrier to the process of theory development?
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How did knowledge act as a stimulant in the process of theory development?
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| Use of the knowledge of other disciplines was long seen as superior to that developed by nurses. |
Knowledge breeds knowledge; existing theory now provides impetus for further refinement and development. |
| Other disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, and physiology, prepared their students to do research in nursing and develop theories for nurses, rather than encouraging nursing to prepare its own students to do research and theory development. NSG 5002 Week 2 Theory Development – Barrier and Stimulants Paper |
Old paradigms are challenged by new ones as they are influenced by social factors, factors in healthcare, and practice changes. |
| The National League for Nursing (NLN) requirement for colleges and universities often resulted in the development of curricula with esoteric content. |
The new worldview is less mechanistic, more congruent with women’s views of science and nurses’ views of health; it is more wholistic and ecological. |
| The knowledge base developed was unrelated to practice and was far removed from preparing students to be change agents in practice. |
Nurses are trained to observe record, analyze, and solve problems, and this unique source of knowledge has provided research efforts that are, finally, far more based in the practice realm than ever before. |
| The academic focus was on conceptual models as a way to develop theories and theoretical thinking, and often lost sight of the reason to conceptualize in the first place, that is, the underpinnings of nursing practice and patient care. |
Nurses spend long hours with patients and family, and are better able to identify and understand patterns of phenomena, rather than perceive health and nursing as a series of isolated incidents. |
| Development of conceptual models and theories was encouraged as a way to justify and define the status of nursing as a profession, and required the existence of theories. NSG 5002 Week 2 Theory Development – Barrier and Stimulants Paper |
The move toward the development of middle-range theories, rather than grand theories and conceptual models, has allowed nurses involved directly in the provision of care to ask practice-based questions, do research to answer those questions, and develop new information on a more manageable scale. |