Generating Middle Range Theory

As expected, this book is complex but it is also engaging, thought-provoking, and exciting because it helps nurses and other readers think deeply about meeting the needs of patients at their most vulnerable moments. Score: 94, 4 Stars--Doody's Medical Reviews

Callista Roy, one of nursing's leading theorists and creator of the widely used Roy Adaptation Model of Nursing, presents a unique pathway for developing knowledge for nursing practice. Her book distills the most relevant information from 200 published research studies to provide a roadmap for progressing from nursing research to middle-range theory to optimum practice regimens. It is based on tested knowledge, clear evidence, and refined caring perspectives.

Step by step, the text identifies and critiques research suited for developing cumulative knowledge for practice and uses the research to develop middle-range theories that apply across all health care settings. It then presents the evidence for practice for each middle range theory, refocuses EBP within nursing knowledge and within defined levels of readiness for practice, and recommends changes for practice based on evidence. Grounded in the Roy Adaptation Model of Nursing, the book provides a single conceptual basis for synthesis of research into middle range theories for use across all patient populations. It clarifies ways to select research from one conceptual basis to build middle-range theories, how to classify evidence for practice by levels of readiness, and recommend research-based changes in practice. The text includes quantitative and qualitative research designs and offers instruments to measure major concepts for implementation. Also included are plentiful examples, tables that display values across studies, definitions of major terms and concepts, and diagrams of concepts. Supplementing the text is a faculty guide for using the text to teach critical thinking at multiple graduate levels and videos illuminating each section of the book.

• Explains clearly how middle-range theories grow from research
• Designed for implementation in practice
• Uses Roy's five core "adaptation" contexts as organizing themes: coping, changing life events, loss, chronic health condition, and traumatic events
• Constitutes a seminal work from a pre-eminent nursing theorist and educator
• Includes faculty guide and videos elucidating each section of the book