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260 UNIT III Nursing Conceptual Models

STTI conferences. King communicated regularly with system suggests that the essential characteristics
students who were learning about theories within her of nursing are those properties that have per-
conceptual system. sisted in spite of environmental changes (p. ix).
King (1971, 1981) was recognized as one of the
early nurse theorists through her publications, which It is a way of thinking about the real world of
nursing; . . . an approach for selecting concepts
were translated into Japanese, Spanish, and German. perceived to be fundamental for the practice of
She authored numerous articles and served on the professional nursing; [and] shows a process for
editorial board of Nursing Science Quarterly. King developing concepts that symbolize experiences
authored several book chapters, for example, Frey & within the physical, psychological, and social
Sieloff’s Advancing King’s Systems Framework and environment in nursing (p. 125).
Theory of Nursing (1995), and Sieloff and Frey’s Mid-
dle Range Theories for Nursing Practice Using King’s King’s (1981) concepts are presented in the Major
Conceptual System (2007), which highlighted her Concepts & Definitions box.
studies by other authors.

Use of Empirical Evidence
Theoretical Sources King (1971) spoke of concepts as “abstract ideas that
King (1971) described the purpose of her first book as give meaning to our sense perceptions, permit gener-
follows: alizations, and tend to be stored in our memory for
recall and use at a later time in new and different
. . . propos[ing] a conceptual frame of reference situations” (pp. 11–12). King (1984) defined theory as
for nursing . . . intended to be utilized specifically “a set of concepts, that, when defined, are interrelated
by students and teachers, and also by researchers and observable in the world of nursing practice”
and practitioners, to identify and analyze events (p. 11). Theory serves to build “scientific knowledge
in specific nursing situations. The conceptual for nursing” (King, 1995b, p. 24).

MAJOR CONCEPTS & DEFINITIONS
“Concepts give meaning to our sense perceptions share information about their perceptions in the
and permit generalizations about persons, objects, nursing situation” (King, 1981, p. 2).
and things” (King, 1995a, p. 16). A limited number
of definitions based on the systems framework are Self
listed here, and additional definitions can be found “The self is a composite of thoughts and feelings
in King’s 1981 book, A theory for nursing: Systems, which constitute a person’s awareness of his [/her]
concepts, process. individual existence, his [/her] conception of who
and what he [/she] is. A person’s self is the sum total
Health of all he [/she] can call his [/hers]. The self includes,
“Health is defined as dynamic life experiences of a among other things, a system of ideas, attitudes,
human being, which implies continuous adjustment values, and commitments. The self is a person’s total
to stressors in the internal and external environment subjective environment. It is a distinctive center of
through optimum use of one’s resources to achieve experience and significance. The self constitutes a
maximum potential for daily living” (King, 1981, p. 5). person’s inner world as distinguished from the outer
world consisting of all other people and things. The
Nursing self is the individual as known to the individual. It is
“Nursing is defined as a process of action, reac- that to which we refer when we say, ‘I’” (Jersild,
tion, and interaction whereby nurse and client 1952, p. 10).