1. Components of Metaparadigm
There are a number of factors that influenced the nursing theorists when it came to the definition and description of the metaparadigm components. In order to understand these factors, it is important to start by understanding and identifying these metaparadigm components. To start with, it is important to have a complete overview and understanding of the person (who is in this case the client for example a patient). Understanding the person societal, psychological, physical as well as physiological variables that might affect him is therefore important (George, 2011). Secondly, the environment in which the person lives both internally and externally is also another important metaparadigm component. Thirdly, the health of a person (in this case the client) is also important to understand and lastly, nursing as a profession is the fourth metaparadigm. Taking a close look at Dorothea Orem who invented the self care deficit theory (in 1970 but later developed the theory in 1985), there are a number of factors that influenced the definition of the components of metaparadigm.
These factors can be broadly subdivided into internal as well as external factors. The internal factors are those factors that intrinsically affect and influence the person to be given treatment or a medical analysis. These include the psychological makeup of the patient. The external factors according to George are those that externally affect the patient and nursing profession at large which include the environment in which the patient and the profession interact. Based on the nature of the environment such as access to medical attention, some of the factors that therefore, affected these descriptions include the health conditions and values, the world (which in this case includes areas such as the medical trends during a particular period of time, and lastly professionalism. This is because among other fields, the medical field is one of the areas that have shown a lot of discipline observation and high levels of professionalism (Waler & Avant, 2011).
2. Tenets of Metaparadigm
According to some of the earliest nursing theorists such as Florence Nightingale, Dorothea Orem, Watson among others, some of the tenets of metaparadigm include basic self care as developed and explained by Dorothea Orem in 1970. The self care model believes in and emphasizes on personal hygiene and basic first aid (Walker & Avant, 2011). This is the only way through which a person, infected or not, will be in a position to uphold the highest levels of hygiene possible. According to Florence Nightingale on the other hand, she believed in putting the patients in the best possible conditions in order to act on him. According to the theory of Nightingale however, there are a number of basic assumptions which would enhance nursing services’ delivery to patients (clients) and these include the law of nature, the urge and desire to carry out nursing services out of a calling, nursing as an art as well as a science (especially in serrvices’ delivery) and lastly, the distinction and differentiation of nursing from the field of medicine. However, it is important to note the fact that she advocated fro assisted health care unlike Dorothea who advocated fro personal hygiene observation which would reduce any possible cases of infection. This sets out the difference between the two theories (George, 2011).
According to Leininger’s Theory of Nursing on the other hand, the basic tenet of nursing is the society, whereby nursing is placed and based on the culture’s care. Every culture is based on and founded on a society and according to Leininger therefore, it is the responsibility of the society to ensure that it upholds nursing activities through its norms, behaviors and cultural beliefs.
References
George, J., B. (2011). Nursing theories: The base for professional nursing practice. (6th ed.). Boston: Person.
Walker, L., O. & Avant, K., C. (2011). Strategies for theory construction in nursing. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
