Theories Guiding Nursing Research and Practice: Making Nursing Knowledge Development Explicit

This is the first book to clearly and fully demonstrate the process of using theory to guide nursing research and professional practice. It describes a step-by-step format for evaluating nursing theorys applicability to research, a format that links theory (both middle-range and grand theory) to research on a wide range of clinical populations and care delivery systems. The book describes how theory analysis models are used to examine various nursing phenomena as they relate to nursing research and professional practice, and provides key examples of how this is accomplished. The book takes the reader through the process of using a theory to guide research from inception of a research question to evaluation of future research. International experts in theory-related nursing research describe twelve theories that have previously been applied to research and practice and six theories that can be applied to future research and practice. Using a consistent analytic framework, each chapter applies a specific theory (from either nursing, psychology, sociology, or management) to a particular clinical population or care delivery issue. These encompass clinical, administrative, and educational nursing settings. The consistent format facilitates ease of comparison across different theories. Generous use of figures and tables further demonstrates the complex relationships between and among concepts embedded in the theories. Key Features:: Demonstrates a systematic format for evaluating middle-range and grand nursing theorys applicability to research Links theory to clinical practice at patient population and care delivery levels Provides a useful template for students of nursing disciplinary knowledge development Presents the scholarship of international researchers of theory-related nursing Includes theories from nursing, psychology, sociology, and management