PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of maturity of the concept of health in the nursing discipline. METHOD: The four principles of Morse and colleagues were used to evaluate the level of maturity of the health concept-epistemological, logical, pragmatical, and linguistical. FINDINGS: This evaluation suggests that the concept of health in nursing is immature, defined inconsistently, and with different instruments. CONCLUSION: Health is a central concept for nursing. Additional concept development and clarification are needed. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: For the concept of health to be conceptualized, it is important that nurses have consensus regarding the definition of health. The nursing discipline should define health in a manner that is consistent with its philosophical presuppositions. Further, it should be measurable, empirically based, and capture the outcomes that are sensitive to the nursing interventions.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of maturity of the concept of health in the nursing discipline. METHOD: The four principles of Morse and colleagues were used to evaluate the level of maturity of the health concept-epistemological, logical, pragmatical, and linguistical. FINDINGS: This evaluation suggests that the concept of health in nursing is immature, defined inconsistently, and with different instruments. CONCLUSION: Health is a central concept for nursing. Additional concept development and clarification are needed. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: For the concept of health to be conceptualized, it is important that nurses have consensus regarding the definition of health. The nursing discipline should define health in a manner that is consistent with its philosophical presuppositions. Further, it should be measurable, empirically based, and capture the outcomes that are sensitive to the nursing interventions.
Authors: V P van Druten; E A Bartels; D van de Mheen; E de Vries; A P M Kerckhoffs; L M W Nahar-van Venrooij Journal: BMC Health Serv Res Date: 2022-03-24 Impact factor: 2.655