Toward a Middle-Range Theory of Weight Management.

The authors of this paper present the middle-range theory of weight management that focuses on cultural, environmental, and psychosocial factors that influence behaviors needed for weight control. The theory of weight management was developed deductively from Orem's theory of self-care, a constituent theory within the broader self-care deficit nursing theory and from research literature. Linkages between the conceptual and middle-range theory concepts are illustrated using a substruction model. The development of the theory of weight management serves to build nursing science by integrating extant nursing theory and empirical knowledge. This theory may help predict weight management in populations at risk for obesity-related disorders.