Awarded first place in the 2023 AJN Book of the Year Awards in Nursing Research.

Three-time recipient of the AJN Book of the Year Award!

The completely revised fifth edition of this authoritative text encompasses the most current middle range theories for graduate nursing students and researchers. User-friendly and consistently organized, it helps readers to understand the connection of research to larger conceptual models in nursing. The fifth edition presents three new theories, a revised chapter on concept-building, two published examples demonstrating the concept-building process, and a new section on the application of middle range theory that addresses its use for practice, and education. Additional new features include the fresh perspectives of a third editor, a two-color design to enhance readability, and discussion questions concluding each chapter.

The text describes sixteen middle range theories and elaborates on disciplinary perspectives, providing an organizing framework and evaluating the theory. Each theory is consistently organized by purpose, historical development, primary concepts, the relationships among concepts, and its use in nursing practice and research. Understanding of concepts is enhanced by the book's use of the ladder of abstraction for each theory to explain its relationship to philosophical, conceptual, and empirical theory dimensions.

New to the Fifth Edition:

Includes three new theories—Inner Strength, Unitary Caring, and Nature Immersion—for a total of 16 theories
A completely new section on application of theory to practice
New chapter on application of middle range theory to education
Extensively revised chapter on building concepts for research
Two-color design to enhance readability
Discussion questions at the end of each chapter to promote class dialogue
Nine practice examples relating to application of middle range theory
The expertise of a new editor

Key Features:

Delivers theories in consistent format to facilitate comparisons
Presents published exemplars demonstrating concept building
User-friendly and consistently organized
Summarizes middle range theories developed between 1988 and 2020

Contents

Contributors

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgement

PART I: SETTING THE STAGE FOR MIDDLE RANGE THEORIES

Chapter 1. Disciplinary Perspectives Linked to Middle Range Theory

Chapter 2. Understanding Middle Range Theory by Moving Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction

Chapter 3. Evaluation of Middle Range Theories for the Discipline of Nursing

PART II: MIDDLE RANGE THEORIES READY FOR APPLICATION

Chapter 4. Theories of Uncertainty in Illness

Chapter 5. Theory of Meaning

Chapter 6. Theory of Bureaucratic Caring

Chapter 7. Theory of Self-Transcendence

Chapter 8. Theory of Symptom Management

Chapter 9. Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms

Chapter 10. Theory of Self-Efficacy

Chapter 11. Story Theory

Chapter 12. Theory of Unitary Caring

Chapter 13. Theory of Transitions

Chapter 14. Theory of Self-Reliance

Chapter 15. Theory of Cultural Marginality

Chapter 16. Theory of Inner Strength

Chapter 17. Theory of Moral Reckoning

Chapter 18. Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness

Chapter 19. Theory of Nature Immersion

PART III: APPLICATION OF MIDDLE RANGE THEORY: RESEARCH

Chapter 20. Concept Building for Research

Building the Concept of Nurturing Resilience

Transforming Loss: A Developing Concept for Nursing

PART IV: APPLICATION OF MIDDLE RANGE THEORY: PRACTICE AND EDUCATION

Chapter 21. Application of Middle Range Theory: Practice

Exemplar 1: The Theory of Meaning

Exemplar 2: Bureaucratic Caring Theory

Exemplar 3: Theory of Self-Transcendence

Exemplar 4: Symptom Management Theory

Exemplar 5: Unpleasant Symptoms Theory

Exemplar 6: Story Theory

Exemplar 7: Transition Theory

Exemplar 8: Self-Reliance Theory

Exemplar 9: Self-Care of Chronic Illness Theory

Chapter 22. Application of Middle Range Theory: Education

Appendix: Published Middle Range Theories 1988-2022

Authors

Mary Jane Smith, PhD, RN, FAAN, earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Pittsburgh and her doctorate from New York University. She has held faculty positions at the following nursing schools: University of Pittsburg, Duquesne University, Cornell University-New York Hospital, and The Ohio State University. Currently, Dr. Smith is a professor of nursing at West Virginia University School of Nursing; she has been teaching theory to master's and doctoral nursing students for over 4 decades.

Patricia R. Liehr, PhD, RN, graduated from Ohio Valley Hospital, School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She completed her bachelor's degree in nursing at Villa Maria College, her master's in family health nursing at Duquesne University and her doctorate at the School of Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore. She did postdoctoral education at the University of Pennsylvania as a Robert Wood Johnson scholar. Currently, Dr. Liehr is a professor emerita of nursing at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University; she has taught nursing theory to master's and doctoral students for over 3 decades.

Roger D. Carpenter, PhD, RN, earned his bachelor's degree from Kent State University College of Nursing, his master's degree from Case Western Reserve University, and his doctorate from West Virginia University. Currently, Dr. Carpenter is an associate professor of nursing at West Virginia University School of Nursing and serves as the director of the PhD program.

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