TFN Week 2: Concepts Overview

Key Concepts

• Concepts can emerge from empirical phenomena or abstract perceptions of intangible ideas like charity, caring, and patience.
• Concepts enhance understanding by providing definitions and meanings for words.

Types of Concepts

• Abstract Concepts:
  • Indirectly observable and intangible.
  • Time and place dependent.
  • Examples include love, care, and freedom.
• Concrete Concepts:
  • Directly observable and tangible.
  • Examples include nurse, mother, and pain.

Definitions

• Conceptual Definitions: Meanings based on theoretical or literature perspectives, such as the roles of nurses or patient care.
• Operational Definitions: Meanings based on measurement methods, like pain perception in nursing interventions.

Theoretical Models and Frameworks

• Theoretical models consist of testable concepts.
• Conceptual models represent knowledge through personal or researcher understanding of a topic, interrelating concepts in diagram or narrative form.

Nursing Paradigms

• Philosophy in Nursing adds depth to the knowledge framework post-metaparadigm.
• It analyzes phenomena through logical reasoning and judgment.

Science and Scientific Method

• Science involves systematic knowledge acquisition in a discipline.
• Scientific Method consists of:
  • Observation
  • Data Gathering
  • Hypothesis Formation
  • Experimental Investigation
  • Conclusion/Theoretical Explanation

Knowledge

• Knowledge encompasses information, skills, and expertise from life experiences and learning.
• It represents abstract or workable understanding of a subject.

Understanding Key Processes

• Perception: Understanding sensory data.
• Association: Combining concepts to form new ideas.
• Cognitive Learning: Acquiring skills and values.
• Reasoning: Seeking conclusions through logical processes.
• Communication: Transferring information using various mediums.

Sources of Knowledge

• Traditional Knowledge: Practices passed down through generations.
• Authoritative Knowledge: Acknowledged truths from expert figures.
• Scientific Knowledge: Knowledge derived from research using objective criteria.

Phenomena

• Phenomena refer to observable empirical data, like crying from pain.
• They connect individual reactions to sensory insights regarding their environment.

Nursing Phenomena Examples

• Clinical or environmental settings, such as health centers.
• Disease processes like ulcers.
• Client behaviors, such as guarding during pain.
• Interventions focused on pain management.
• Practices derived from nursing theories and metaparadigms (person, nursing, health, environment).