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CHAP TER

Afaf Ibrahim Meleis
1942–present

Transitions Theory

Eun-Ok Im

“I believe very strongly that, while knowledge is universal, the agents for developing
knowledge must reflect the nature of the questions that are framed and driven by the
different disciplines about the health and well-being of individuals or populations”
(Meleis, 2007, ix).

knew how much nurses struggle with having a voice
Credentials and Background and affecting quality of care. However, they eventu-
of the Theorist ally approved of her choice and had faith that Afaf
Afaf Ibrahim Meleis was born in Alexandria, Egypt. could do it.
In personal communication with Meleis (December Meleis completed her nursing degree at the University
29, 2007), she reckons that nursing has been part of of Alexandria, Egypt. She came to the United States to
her life since she was born. Her mother is considered pursue her graduate education as a Rockefeller Fellow
the Florence Nightingale of the Middle East; she was to become an academic nurse (Meleis, personal com-
the first person in Egypt to obtain a BSN degree munication, December 29, 2007). From the University
from Syracuse University, and the first nurse in of California, Los Angeles, she received an MS in nurs-
Egypt who obtained an MPH and a PhD from an ing in 1964, an MA in sociology in 1966, and a PhD in
Egyptian university. Meleis admired her mother’s medical and social psychology in 1968.
dedication and commitment to the profession and After receiving her doctoral degree, Meleis worked
considered nursing to be in her blood. Under the as administrator and acting instructor at the University
influence of her mother, Meleis became interested in of California, Los Angeles, from 1966 to 1968 and as
nursing and loved the potential of developing the assistant professor from 1968 to 1971. In 1971, she
discipline. Yet, when she chose to pursue nursing, moved to the University of California, San Francisco
her parents objected to her choice because they (UCSF), where she spent the next 34 years and where

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