Developing a model: an illustration.

Model development may seem a daunting task for the novice. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the steps of model development applied to a real-life phenomenon using an inductive theory-generating research approach. The value of the illustration is that nurse researchers can follow the application of the process as a point of departure for their own work. A logical stepwise discussion is followed for empirical theory development. The logical thought process from identifying the phenomenon to describing the model as a visual metaphor of the phenomenon is illustrated.