Theoretical nursing: development and progress

"An additional assumption was that the processes for theory development were new to nursing and hence, nurses in graduate programs learned strategies for advancing knowledge from other disciplines. This assumption was debunked with the knowledge that nurses were always engaged in knowledge development, driven by their experiences in clinical practice. Because of these assumptions, most of the early writing about theory development was about outlining strategies that should be used, rather than strategies that have already been used in the discipline to develop theories. Theorists themselves did not uncover or adequately discuss ways by which they developed their theories, therefore the tendency was to describe processes that were based on theories developed in other disciplines, mainly the physical and social sciences. And an implicit assumption was made that there should be a single strategy for theory development, some claiming to begin the process from practice, and others believing it should be driven by research"--Provided by publisher.

pt. Five: Our theoretical future. 14. Challenges and opportunities for a theoretical future -- 15. Concept development -- 16. Theory development -- 17. Middle-range and situation-specific theories -- 18. Measuring progress in a discipline -- pt. Six: Our historical literature. 19. Historical writings in theory -- 20. Historical and current theory bibliography.

pt. One: Our theoretical journey. 1. Positioning for the journey -- 2. On being and becoming a scholar -- 3. Theory: metaphors, symbols, definitons -- pt. Two: Our theoretical heritage. 4. From can't to Kant: barriers and forces toward theoretical thinking -- 5. On the way to theoretical nursing: stages and milestones -- pt. Three: Our discipline and its structure. 6. The discipline of nursing: perspective and domain -- 7. Sources, resources and paradoxes for theory -- 8. Our syntax: an epistemological analysis -- pt. Four: Reviewing and evaluating: pioneering theories. 9. Nursing theories through mirrors, microscopes or telescopes -- 10. A model for evaluation of theories: description, analysis, critique, testing and support -- 11. On needs and self-care -- 12. On interactions -- 13. On outcomes.