Nursing Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing Theories - Essay Example This is fundamental since nursing theories are derived from models comprised of the following components: the person or self, environment, health and nursing. These four metaparadigm concepts can be observed in all nursing models and forms the framework from which each theory as a whole functions (Rogers, 1989). This paper aims to evaluate the definitions of the concept of health and illness in two nursing theories namely, Margaret Newman's "Health as Expanding Consciousness" and Martha Roger's "Science of Unitary Human Beings." Margaret Newman's systems model recognizes the person as a comprehensive system. Within this system are constituent elements including the physiological factor, psychological factor, sociological factor, spiritual factor and developmental factor which according to her are in a complex interrelationship (Newman, 1992). With regards to health, Margaret Newman maintains that health is the manifestation of the realm of consciousness. Consciousness is defined as the capability of the human system to gather and process information regarding the self and the environment. However, according to Newman, consciousness is not limited to the cognitive and affective faculties that characterize the basic notion of consciousness but also includes the dynamism of the whole living system (Newman, 1997). The consciousness of the system, accord... "Science of Unitary Beings" by Martha Rogers Martha Rogers's system model considers the person or individual as a unit or unified whole which is constantly in direct interaction with the surrounding environment. According to her, health and illness are the products and manifestations of the human life process. She gives a scientific model for nursing that is based on concept of health as the systematic function of the physical body and illness as the state of dysfunction of the components of the human life processes (Rogers, 1975) Health is seen by Martha Rogers as the integration of the physicochemical properties of life that is constant interaction with the immediate environment which are also imminent in the energy fields inherent in the two areas. The energy field that constitutes the person's or the individual's complex systems are in direct contact with the energy field of the environment which may be assigned as the surrounding living and non-living forms. Therefore, the energy fields that is present in this larger system is made up of the living and the non-living forms of the person and the environment. The open mode of the person and environment energy fields promotes an interchange of energy between the two which leads to the kind of nature or state of the system classified into either health or illness (Rogers, 1989). Health Concepts Comparison and Analysis The main point of comparison between Newman's and Rogers' use of the concept of health in their respective theories arises in the nature and impact of the perception of constitution of the person. The first similarity lies in the consideration of the person's physical and