Attached.

Running head: NURSING THEORY ANALYSIS

Nursing Theory Analysis
Name:
Institution:
Instructor:
Course:
Date

1

NURSING THEORY ANALYSIS

2
Abstract

Hildegard Peplau was an American nurse and theorist who is accredited for being the pioneer
published theorist after Florence Nightingale. Hildegard is acknowledged for formulating a mid range theory of interpersonal relations that revolutionized the academic work of nurses. Having
been influenced by Abraham Maslow, Henry Stack Sullivan, Neal Elger Miller, and Percival
Symonds, the theory of interpersonal relations has four components that include the person,
environment, health, and nursing. The theory has four successive stages in the personal relational
that include orientation, identification, exploitation, and resolution. The orientation stage entails
the identification of the issue when the patient meets the nurse. Here, the nurse assesses the health
and situation of the patient. The identification process entails choosing a significant assistance by
a professional. It is nursing care plan that is founded on the situation and goal of the patient. The
exploitation phase is the implementation of the nursing plan while the resolution phase describes
the end of the professional relationship because the patient has achieved the needs via the
collaboration of the nurse and patient. The theorist elucidates that the interpersonal relations have
a common goal of achieving the therapeutic needs of the patient.

NURSING THEORY ANALYSIS

3

Theory/Author Name and Background
Peplau’s theory is a mid-range descriptive classical theory that seeks to incorporate human
relationship in any nurse undertakings (George, 2014). The theory explicates that the purpose of
nursing is to help others recognize their felt difficulties. This theory was developed by Hildegard
Peplau, an American nurse who served as the president of American Nurse Association from 1970
to 1972. Before that, Peplau served in the World War II as a nurse. After the war, she counseled
many men they had worked together in the war to shape their mental health systems after
enactment of the National Mental Health Act of 1946 (George, 2014). The major premise of this
nursing model is to guarantee that the relational connection between a nurse and a patient involves
a common goal. Peplau argued that the interactional relationship between the nurse and the patient
play an important role in providing information that is vital in the attainment of the common
purpose, assisting the recovery of the patient.
According to this theory, the significance of nursing is to help others recognize their felt
challenges and this can only be achieved when there is an interpersonal relationship between a
nurse and a patient. Hildegard felt that a nurse should apply values of human relations that exist at
all stages of experience. Serving as a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps presented her an opportunity
to formulate the theory where the patient-nurse relationship was important in the nursing
situations. Working with Harry Stack Sullivan at private psychiatry facility in Bennington,
Peplau’s theory was focused on advancing Sullivan’s interpersonal relations theory in the nursing
field (George, 2014). Sullivan’s theory states that individuals are well-understood from the
network of relationships they are involved. He affirmed that physicians needed to focus on the
interactional aspect of mental health and not the intrapsychic element. In a similar manner, Peplau
concentrated on the significance of nurses to impr...