Characteristics of nursing theories

The nursing metaparadigm consist of four main concepts: person, health, environment, and nursing. Each theory is regularly defined and described by a Nursing Theorist.

The importance of nursing theory

Theory is important because it helps us to decide what we know and what we need to know (Parsons 1949). It helps to distinguish what should form the basis of practice by explicitly describing nursing.

Theory is defined as “a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action.” Nursing theory is “a creative and rigorous structuring of ideas that project a tentative, purposeful, and systematic view of phenomena”.

There are three major categories when classifying nursing theories based on their level of abstraction: grand theory, middle-range theory, and practice-level theory.