Comfort Theory in Nursing - Research Paper Example

Comfort Theory: Mid-Range Theory Comfort Theory: Mid-Range Theory Background According to the Kolcaba Katharine, she is the one who came with this theory which she expanded while taking her master’s in nursing. She completed her masters, then undertook doctorate programme that consumed her total of ten years. In the year, 1997, Kolcaba graduated from the renowned University of Case Western. She later did publish a book in 2003 on comfort theory. According to her book, the theory resulted through retroduction, deduction, induction plus concept analysis. Kolcaba studies this given theory for a period of two years before making conclusion of existence of three given varieties of comfort namely; ease, relief, renewal. Later on, it was revised so as to be brought into the modern taxonomic fabrication for comfort that often explains comfort to be a nature for accomplishing needs for ease, relief plus transcendence in one’s sociocultural, physical, environmental plus psycho-spiritual settings. In describing deduction, here comfort is described as having associations to some nursing theories so as to help make up a hypothesis. According to the author called Murray in his book published in 1938, he contributed towards providing a sensible structure that helped Kolcaba’s notions sustaining. In addition, Relief became distinguished by an author named Orlando in the year 1961, same to transcendence by Zderad and Paterson in 1976, and ease became distinguished by an author named Henderson in the year 1966. In the year 1975, the idea on behaviors of seeking health was utilized by a person named Schlotfeldt. In regard to retroductive step implementation, Kolcaba ensured that she in culminated the idea of having institutional sincerity incorporated in her comfort theory. In addition, the theory often depicts various personalized patient centered care, plus the given benefits accrued from comfort plus engagement of the habits involved to seek health. Propositions and Notions Basically, some of the notions found in this given philosophy encompass: Intervening variables, comfort needs, institutional integrity, comfort procedures, comfort including health seeking attitudes or behaviors. According to Kolcaba, comfort is something which needs to originate from a care circumstances which cannot be offered at the same time by a given patient’s maintenance structure. In addition, it is through the set of standards set in nursing that are supposed to assemble the given needs hence captivating patients aspects like maturity, emotional situation, defiance, given support structure, past experience among others which are able to have an influence on how to understand coziness. Furthermore, comfort is regarded as an activity taken in totality and can hence is offered at socio-cultural, ecological, psycho-spiritual and corporeal circumstances. In addition, he continues to describe the given three comfort varieties as shown: superiority plus pleasure are described as situations which usually tower above the encounters of one’s life; reliefs are described as an offering made for a given health care need; while ease is described as a situation for steadiness. Inner Criticism Pertaining to this topic, clarity entails philosophical display plus manner in which they get interpreted by scholars. Besides the given report to analyze the theory which is sometimes hard to read based on a book written by Dowd in the year 2006, Kolcaba surely presented some development for the hypothesis. Furthermore, it is through the work of Wilson, written in 2009 that gave additional understanding into the theory. Related to consistency, often, unvarying hypotheses should hold up some consistency which should be in line with ideologies, descriptions including interpretations. In addition, one cannot fail to notice various descriptions given for the assumptions made, origins, various proposals plus concepts written in the given article. In relation to adequacy, the given assumptions made, proposals plus concepts utilized in their hypothesis are often unique to nursing. In addition, they can also be operationalized to work in multiple settings based on readings provided by Barnum in 1990. Often, hypothesis simply does not express some of the practical aspects done by nurses, but can be considered to provide results which have been important to the management of patients, their well-being plus reliability. Wilson furthermore distinguishes various specific contexts including various coziness types that have previously been expounded and associated to offering a given amount of care for various patients. In relation to logical improvement, entails resolving something through articulating display that depicts reasons that often results to a resolution being made right from the hypothesis (Barnum, 1990, p. 34). Barnum describes it as going hand in hand with the given thesis development for the given article. According to Wilson, Kolcaba judgments had been backed by intensive evidences (2009). In addition, through analysis by use of relevant parameters like visual analog scales, surveys and checklist for comfort behavior so as to attain the aimed culture has boosted it. In relation to thesis expansion level, the given Comfort theory usually adheres to a certain criterion called medium range theory simply because it has inadequate proposals and ideas, some insignificant speculations plus utilizations in training. Various researches have been done to verify the given thesis. Peripheral Criticism There have been quite a number of criticisms which the theory has received peripherally. First of all, upto date, the given age for learning the theory’s complications for comfort has not been clearly established for youngsters according to an article written by Down in 2006. In addition, from my perspective, the theory basically exists as a medium one based on its inadequacy of certain concepts, possession of minimal levels of abstraction plus utilization for training. According to Kolcaba in 2003, he insisted that in as much as the theory can be put in practice for patients of various backgrounds, sometimes it can be put to use all over the world in various health care facilities. In relation to Wilson comment in 2009 about the theory, he considers the given hypothesis as being widespread. Significance: In relation to significance, the substantial theory often tries to discuss various concerns related to a given training exercise plus also provides concerns to progress of education. Hence, Comfort theory usually is understood through depicting world-wide concern to nursing. According to an article by Wilson in 2009, the theory regards comfort to be the key feature when it comes to care of a given patient plus also entails charming the given patient hence resulting in a maintenance framework. Nurses usually struggle to achieve objectives related to relation, comfort too or wholeness of their patients. According to an article written by Dowd in 2006, the philosophy behind recognizing the need behind individualized care to various patients is simple and hence should be provided to them as it influences their behaviors in seeking health. Utility: In relation to utility, efficacy generally is gauged through the utility of a given hypothesis that is in exercise. According to an article written by Barnum in 1990, he describes Kolcaba as having come up with various inquiries that would be useful to improving patient comfort ability during their stay in hospitals. Usually, the given thesis helps these nurses to achieve proper interventions which are necessary in satisfying known wants. Subsequently, according to an article written by Krysa in 1996, the theory has managed to get application in various communities so as to come up with practice based philosophies which can be utilized in midwiferies, pediatrics, hospice care, and even in peri-operative nursing care based on DeMirco reading of 2005. However, when the theory was revised, it was found that their existed no significant development when it comes to comfort of occupants in nursing homes that deals in hand reflexology. Furthermore, comfort strategies like existence plus possessing compassionate platforms could also be beneficial when it comes to postpartum women. In according to Koehn, often, the given thesis in comfort theory should be able to accommodate a certain structure that can target women during pre-partum, peri-partum and post-partum period. A lot of comfortability provided during these times sometimes can be linked to alternative methods of medicine. In relation to investigations conducted by Benton together with Robinson, they found out that using warm blankets resulted in improving comfortability for the aged in hospitals. Furthermore, another study made Wagner and Byrne in the year 2006 confirmed too that comfort use pre-operative helped in calming the patient. In addition, the given outcomes related to the given study showed nurses to be more satisfied when patients achieve comfortability. Complexity: In relation to this, it can be described as a relation that exists between the variables of a given hypothesis. According to Wilson’s article of 2009, the given notions related to the theory often get well discussed when in conceptual structure. Furthermore, the theory proves to be precise, easy, plus illustrated when related by Dowd in an article written in 2006. Basically, the theory can always be learnt quickly plus implemented for application by registered nurses including nursing students to patients. Discrimination: In relation to discrimination, this entails application to the hypothesis uniqueness to a given disciple of study. According to Wilson in 2009, he described nursing as a holistic process and described it based on the given four contexts for comfort. Applications The theory has found some application in the field of medicine and surgery. For example, before surgeries, patients normally go into a state of anxiety. In order to calm them down, nurses generally employ the use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological means to bring a state of calmness to the patient. In an according to an article written by Martinez in 1975, pre-operative preparation has proved a success and is based on comfort theory. In addition, the theory also found its way in midwifery, hospice places, perianaethesis units and even pediatric units. Before surgeries, in the pre-operative stage, giving perianaethesis help to provide a calming effect to the patient, hence reflecting back to the medical personnel. In addition, since nurses provide their services is a holistic manner, and then dictates that comfort interventions sometimes needed in order to arrive at homeostasis in as much as these pre-operative interventions are conducted (Judd, 2010). Basically, it is believed that when the given interventions are provided, they help to empower patients either subconsciously or even consciously in shaping their behaviors in seeking health services hence eventually contributing to the their well-being. Therefore, institutional results like low readmission charge, enhanced patient including nurse satisfaction would remain accomplished. In addition, the theory has also been used in conducting research. Conclusion The ultimate goal for the given article will be to show nursing theory in totality. The theory, thought off by Kolcobos, might have changed tremendously. The theory basically provides nurses with an opportunity to enhance their quality of car. The theory basically has so many applications in the field of medicine and surgery (Koehn, 2000). References Dowd, T. (2006). Theory of comfort. Tomey AM & Alligood MR, editors, 726-42. Famularo, R., Fenton, T., Kinscherff, R., Ayoub, C., & Barnum, R. (1994). Maternal and child posttraumatic stress disorder in cases of child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18(1), 27-36. Judd, J. (2010). Defining expertise in paediatric orthopaedic nursing. International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing, 14(3), 159-168. Kolcaba, K., & DiMarco, M. A. (2005). Comfort Theory and its application to pediatric nursing. Pediatric Nursing, 31(3). Kolcaba, K. Y. (1995). Comfort as Process and Product, Merged in Holistic-Nursing Art. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 13(2), 117-131. Peterson, S. J., & Bredow, T. S. (Eds.). (2009). 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