Planning a new undergraduate nursing program, I would incorporate the Theory of Self-efficacy developed by Barbara Resnick into the curriculum. The significance of this theory can be hardly underestimated since it has a wide scope of implementation in evidence based practice.
Resnick’s theory is of great use to the nursing professionals because they often face critical situations where total concentration and commitment are necessary. The concepts of self-efficacy elaborated by Resnick within the framework of this theory help a nurse practitioner adjust to the complicated conditions of the working cycle. According to Resnick (2014),
The most important with regard to the use of the theory of self-efficacy in nursing research is that the researcher maintains the behavioral specificity by developing a specific fit between the behavior that is being considered and efficacy and outcome expectations (p. 206).
Thus, the Theory of Self-efficacy offers a practical framework that enables a nurse develop the behavioural skills that will exceed performance levels and help one have an inner peace that contributes to the working success. In addition, the application of this theory facilitates clinical decision making, helps manage one’s emotions, boosts communication skills, and improves the skills of care management.
These are the competencies that are essential for every undergraduate nursing student. With regards to the significance of Resnick’s theory for the undergraduate curriculum, I would especially emphasize its emotional management component because most students at this level confess that they are at high pressure both academically and at real working conditions.
As far as I am concerned, the emotional management part of this theory is compulsory for all undergraduate students because it proposes the techniques that are of high value for every student without exception.
Question: If you were planning a new undergraduate nursing program, what is one nursing theory (grand or middle-range) that you would incorporate into the curriculum? Leininger’s theory is one of the nursing theories that I would incorporate into the curriculum as it addresses culture, an important aspect of nursing practice that have been ignored earlier.
As far as I am concerned, culture is the missing link between nursing knowledge and nursing practice. In connection with the global developments when people subjected to the global processes move traditional areas of their dwelling and produce multinational communities in other areas, there is a need for the theoretic base to extend care for individuals with diverse cultural background.
Leininger’s theory is focused on adapting nursing care to the needs of each particular person in accordance to one’s idea of interpersonal interactions originating from his or her cultural perceptions (Starr, 2009). The theoretic and practical roots of Leininger approach are in extensive nursing experience, extending care to diverse population categories, insightful anthropology, and creative thinking.
Being influenced by all the above-mentioned theoretic dimensions, Leininger came to a conclusion that to provide care to patients with different cultural and ethnic background, a comparative system of approaches is necessary. As a result, she developed her theory.
I consider Leininger’s theory a significant element of nursing theory that should not go unnoticed by undergraduate nursing programs because advanced nursing students are to be theoretically armoured to handle issues that occur in nursing practice due to the global processes in human society.
Overall, understanding human attachment to one’s cultural norms, customs, communication perceptions, language, and heritage provided in Leininger’s theory should become an essential element of undergraduate nursing education.
The Absence of a Guiding Theory
The research study conducted by Zurriaga et al. (2011) observes the factors that are associated with extra weight in children in Spain. This study is peculiar for the absence of unified theoretical framework that guided the study since it was held by a large group of scholars from different parts of Spain with a relatively low coordination level.
The outcomes of this characteristic were ambiguous results and indistinct conclusions made at the end of the study. In this vein, the study made a finding that childhood obesity is associated with dietary preferences of a family but it failed to present specific data regarding the types of food that appear to be the causative agents of gaining extra weight.
It is true that the study indicated some of the products that may cause obesity in children in case of regular consumption but the list of the risky products provided in the research summary article had numerous gaps. This occurrence can be explained by the absence of a specific and clear framework that would enable obtaining specific data needed to answer the study question in a more specific way.
Moreover, the study was elaborated by a variety of researchers with different approach and vision of research design. The endpoint of this practice is the high rate of possibility of different research criteria. Thus, the findings of this research study have a questionable external validity.
Overall, evaluating this example, I came to a conclusion that to obtain reliable results, the researchers have to invest sufficient amount of time and efforts in order to develop the theoretical foundations of their project as well as its conceptual framework.
References
Resnick, B. (2014). Theory of self-efficacy (3rd ed.). New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Starr, K. (2009). Nursing education challenges: Students with English as an additional language. Journal of Nursing Education, 48(9), 478-87
Zurriaga, O., Pérez-Panadés, J., Quiles Izquierdo, J., Gil Costa, M., Anes, Y., Quiñones, C., Miralles Espí, M. T. (2011). Factors associated with childhood obesity in spain. the OBICE study: A case-control study based on sentinel networks. Public Health Nutrition, 14(6), 1105-13.