NURS 500 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice

This course focuses on critical analyses of theory and its use for advanced nursing practice. The text presents historical perspectives on the development of nursing theory, assessments of concept and theory development and theory evaluation, middle-range theories, and shared theories from other disciplines in the sociologic, behavioral, and biomedical sciences, focusing on the application of theory. Students synthesize theory development with strategies for testing theoretical statements. The student critically evaluates, compares, and contrasts the major theory development strategies used in nursing. This knowledge will be used to construct theoretical statements at a specific theory level, as well as design nursing research in which the theoretical statements will be examined.