Background Nursing theory‐guided practice helps improve the quality of nursing care because it allows nurses to articulate what they do for patients and why they do it. However, the usefulness of nursing theory‐guided practice has been questioned and more emphasis has been placed on evidence‐based nursing and traditional practice. Therefore, an examination of experimental studies was undertaken to analyse the extent of use and usefulness of nursing theories in guiding practice. We reviewed experimental studies because in this era of evidence‐based practice, these designs are given more weightage over other research designs. This examination would corroborate the usefulness of nursing theory‐guided practice compared to traditional practice. Methods An integrative review was conducted. Literature search was performed within multiple databases, and 35 studies were reviewed and appraised. Results Majority of the studies were from Iran, the United States and Turkey and used Orem's self‐care model, Roy's adaptation model and Peplau's theory of interpersonal relations. The effect of theory‐guided interventions was evaluated in improving quality of life, self‐efficacy, self‐care and stress of patients with chronic, acute, cardiac and psychological illnesses. The quality rating was judged to be strong for three studies, moderate for 25 studies and weak for seven studies. All of the strongly rated studies found nursing theory‐guided interventions useful. Overall, nursing theory‐guided interventions improved all of studied outcomes in 26 studies and at least one outcome in nine studies. None of the studies reported that nursing theory‐guided interventions as not useful. Conclusion Nursing theories have guided practice in both eastern and Western countries, and theory‐guided practice has been found useful compared to traditional nursing practice. Therefore, nurses should continue to guide their nursing practice through the lens of nursing theories and should continue to evaluate the effectiveness of nursing theory‐guided practice.
Aims and objectives To outline and examine the literature about self‐awareness in nursing and to identify areas for future research and practice. Background Self‐awareness is important for the personal and professional development of nurses, for developing an effective nurse–patient relationship and for improving nursing abilities. Despite its importance in nursing and therapeutic nurse–patient relationship and its evolving nature, the knowledge base for self‐awareness in nursing remains under‐examined. Design A scoping review using PRISMA guidelines. Methods A five‐step approach: (a) identification of research question; (b) identification of relevant studies using a three‐step search: keywords search within PubMed and CINAHL, literature search within PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Science Direct and Google Scholar, and literature search of references lists; (c) study selection; (d) data extraction and charting; (e) data collation, summarisation and reporting, was used. Findings Of 1,531 identified sources, 76 full‐text sources were read and 29 English language sources, published from January 1980 until January 2018, which included nurses or nursing students, were reviewed. Two themes: perspectives on self‐awareness and strategies for enhancing self‐awareness emerged. Under these themes, conceptualisation of self‐awareness; its antecedents and value; and theory‐based, educational and personal strategies for its enhancement were described. There is sufficient literature regarding self‐awareness conceptualisation and theory‐based strategies for its enhancement, but inconclusive evidence regarding value of self‐awareness, and educational and personal strategies for its improvement. Conclusion There is limited research on self‐awareness. Most of the literature comprises of theoretical discussions and opinions which adequately provide a conceptual understanding of self‐awareness. However, more empirical and applied research is needed to apply the available theoretical knowledge in practice. Relevance to clinical practice This review delineated theoretical, educational and personal strategies for nurses to improve their self‐awareness and indicated that engagement in self‐awareness at relational and contextual levels is essential for developing nurse–patient relationship.
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