Module 3
Topic PMHNP is the role hospital medical surgical ICU unit to incorporate Mental health and substance abuse screening tools to be able to detect when a patient may be going through withdrawal during a medical admission
Your choice of a concept may be a concept from your theory presentation, a concept important to your practice, or a concept that could be the focus of your DNP project. Concepts are the building blocks of theory. In its simplest (most concrete) form a theory is simply the relationship between two concepts.
“A concept Links to an external site. is a symbolic representation of an actual thing – tree, chair, table, computer, distance, etc.”
Please complete the following steps for your discussion post:
1.
1. Choose a concept from your practice, or a concept that you might be interested in exploring for your DNP project.
· Example (broad & complex): Nursing – enormously complex concept.
· Example (simpler & more concrete): Direct patient care – more focused.
· Do not choose a disease or a treatment.
· Choose a simpler, more concrete, and more focused concept.
2. Define the concept, describe how it is used in nursing, and identify other uses of the concept in other fields or contexts.
· Examples include:
· Example concept: Coping
· In healthcare, coping means to deal with and attempt to overcome health or illness problems and difficulties.
· In psychology, coping means expending conscious effort to solve difficult personal and interpersonal problems.
· In building or construction, coping means the top, typically sloping, course of a brick or stone wall.
· Obsolete definition, coping means to meet in combat.
Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.
What is Theory?
Theory explains how some aspect of human behavior or performance is organized. It thus enables us to make predictions about that behavior.The components of theory are concepts (ideally well defined) and principles.A concept is a symbolic representation of an actual thing – tree, chair, table, computer, distance, etc. Construct is the word for concepts with no physical referent – democracy, learning, freedom, etc. Language enables conceptualization.A principle expresses the relationship between two or more concepts or constructs.In the process of theory development, one derives principles based on oneÕs examining/questioning how things/concepts are related.Concepts and principles serve two important functions:
1) They help us to understand or explain what is going on around us.2) They help us predict future events (Can be causal or correlational)Ò ThatÕs what theory is: the summary and synthesis of what is known about a field. It is the reduction of our knowledge to the basic ideas, presented in a way that shows their underlying patterns and relationships.Ó (Moore, 1991:2)
A theory is a related set of concepts and principles
– about a phenomenon- the purpose of which is to explain or predict the phenomenon
Why theory is important
1. Theory provides concepts to name what we observe and to explain relationships between concepts. Theory allows us to explain what we see and to figure out how to bring about change. Theory is a tool that enables us to identify a problem and to plan a means for altering the situation.2. Theory is to justify reimbursement to get funding and support – need to explain what is being done and demonstrate that it works – theory and research3. Theory is to enhance the growth of the professional area to identify a body of knowledge with theories from both within and with out the area of distance learning. That body of knowledge grows with theory and research. Theory guides research.ÒThe theory also helps us understand what we donÕt know and, therefore, is the only guide to research. Relating to theory, it increases its ability to solve other problems in different times and different places.Ó (Moore, 1991: 2)
Development of theories
Theory is constantly revised as new knowledge is discovered through research. Three stages of theory development in any new ÒscienceÓ
1) Speculative – attempts to explain what is happening.2) Descriptive – gathers descriptive data to describe what is really happening.3) Constructive – revises old theories and develops new ones based on continuing research.
Theory development process
1) Theory-practice-theory take existing theory in education, apply to distance learning, develop new theory2) Practice-research-theory see what is happening in distance learning, submit to research, develop theory from results3) Theory-theory-research/practice build on an initial theory to develop a second theory, then apply and test it
