Nursing Theorists and Their Descriptions of Health

The theorists to use for this discussion question are Nightingale, Orem, Roy, and Orlando. What is your own description of health, and how did the four theorists influence your definition?

Nightingale wrote ""Health is not only to be well, but to be able to use well every power we have" (Alligood, 2010, pp. 98-99). She believed in prevention and health promotion as well as nursing patients back to health from illness.

Orem supports health promotion and health maintenance. Orem supports the concept of Holistic health that both RN and patient promote the individuals responsibility for self-care.

Roy and Andrews define health as "a state and a process of being and becoming an integrated and whole person". Health is a reflection of how successfully an individual has adapted to environmental Stimuli (Alligood, 2010, p. 312).

Orlando did not define health but did refer to contributions of health in that freedom from mental or physical discomfort and feeling of inadequacy and wellbeing contributed to health a feeling that health is not purely physical but is mental in nature ( Alligood, 2010).

My personal definition of health is one that can be mental, physical and spiritual in state from wellbeing to illness. I once heard someone in an international airport state who was ill " I am not in good health" to me a southern US gal that was a strange statement. But I could not stop thinking about her statement in her British accent and began thinking of the quote. I began to wonder how ill she may have been? Concerned I asked about the woman, and later found out she had travel sickness. To me she was deathly ill, but to her and her companion a motion sickness pill made all the difference in the world. Health and illness are perceptions to those caring for the ill and those that are "not in good health". I feel those theorist mentioned above did influence my definition and made me think and form my own personal theory of health.

Alligood, M.R. (2010). Nursing theory: Utilization & application [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, NUR403 - Theories and Models of Nursing Practice website.