This book offers the perspective that nursing theory
is essentially connected with nursing practice, re-
search, education, and development. Nursing theo-
ries, regardless of complexity or abstraction, reflect
nursing and are used by nurses to frame their think-
ing, action, and being in the world. As guides for
nursing endeavors, nursing theories are practical in
nature and facilitate communication with those be-
ing nursed as well as with colleagues, students, and
persons practicing in related health and illness ser-
vices. At the same time, all aspects of nursing are es-
sential for developing and evolving nursing theory.
It is hoped that these pages make clear the interrela-
tions of nursing theory and various nursing endeav-
ors, and that the discipline and practice of nursing
will thus be advanced.