Importance of Nursing Theory in Science

Nursing theory encompasses a wide variety of beliefs and practices relating to nursing. It is used to guide nursing research, and to predict and assess patient responses to nursing practices. Because there are various types of nursing theory, the importance of nursing theories to science in general can be a complicated question.

Importance

• Nursing theories provide research on human responses to different treatments and is therefore fundamental to the way we practice medical science presently and in the future. Because medical science is centered on human well-being, how patients respond to nursing practices is essential information for assessing medical practices.

Types of Theory

• Because there are a variety of different nursing theories that support a wide range of practices, it is very difficult to talk about nursing theory in general. Nursing theories involve a hierarchy of abstraction and testability and thus some nursing theories are more important to science than others.

Science vs. Non-Science

• The Nursing Theory Network website identifies four levels of theories--metatheories, grand theories, middle-range theories and practice theories. Metatheories are the most abstract and are not easily tested, whereas middle-range theories are directly testable. Because science relies on assessing testable empirical claims, middle-range theories contribute more to science than metatheories. Grand theories and practice theories, with their moderate levels of abstraction and testability, fall somewhere in between.