Middle-range Theory (middle-range + theory)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Partnership and Parenthood in Post-transitional Societies: Will Specters Be Exorcised?

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF JAPANESE SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
Nobutaka Fukuda
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to reconsider partnership and parenthood in post-transitional societies from the viewpoint of sociology. As is well known, after the end of the Baby Boom, albeit with variations in the tempo and the level, a considerable decline in fertility has occurred in industrialized countries. Furthermore, this decline has occurred in tandem with the transformation of partnership such as an increase in the number of cohabited couples. The causes and effects of this decline in fertility have hitherto been studied by social scientists such as economists and demographers. Although the family has been one of the main research interests for sociologists for a long while, the changes in partnership and fertility behavior in developed countries have not been sufficiently argued from the perspective of sociological theory on family. In this article, we will initially compare and contrast two changes in fertility patterns: the first of these is the fertility decline that occurred around the latter half of the nineteenth century; the second is the change that has been observed in industrialized countries since the second half of the 1960s. We will then discuss the difference between economic and ideational approaches in the explanation of partnership and fertility changes. Finally, we will examine the convergence and the divergence theories on family change. This article will conclude with an emphasis on the importance of the middle-range theories. [source]


Trust in Nurses Scale: construct validity and internal reliability evaluation

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 3 2010
Laurel E. Radwin
radwin l.e. & cabral h.j. (2010) Trust in Nurses Scale: construct validity and internal reliability evaluation. Journal of Advanced Nursing66(3), 683,689. Abstract Aim., This paper is a report of the continued psychometric evaluation of the Trust in Nurses Scale. Background., Qualitative analyses indicate that trust in nurses is critically important to adult patients. Instruments that distinctively measure this concept are lacking. A middle-range theory of patient-centred nursing care provided the theoretical basis for the Trust in Nurses Scale. Content validity was assessed by an expert panel and patient interviews. Construct validity and reliability were found acceptable using multi-trait/multi-item analysis techniques. These findings were previously reported. Methods., Construct validity and reliability of the Trust in Nurses Scale was assessed in 2007 using data collected during 2004,2005 from 187 hospitalized patients in a haematology-oncology setting. Trust in nurses (the latent factor) was operationalized by five items (manifest variables) using confirmatory factor analyses. Fit statistics included comparative fit index, Tucker-Lewis Index, root mean square error of approximation and the standardized root mean square residual. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using coefficient alpha. Findings., Both a five-item and a four-item version demonstrate acceptable psychometric properties. The five-item version met three fit statistics criteria. Fifty-nine per cent of the variance was explained. A four-item version met all fit statistics criteria. Sixty-six per cent of the variance was explained. Acceptable internal consistency reliability was found for both versions. Conclusion., Previous psychometric testing of the Trust in Nurses Scale provided evidence of the instrument's reliability, content validity and construct validity. The presented analyses further support construct validity. Thus, cumulative findings indicate that the instrument measures with a few items the underlying concept of trust. [source]


A Taxonomy of Passive Behaviors in People with Alzheimer's Disease

JOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 3 2000
Kathleen Byrne Colling
Purpose: To construct a taxonomy of passive behaviors for understanding people with Alzheimer's disease. Passive behaviors are those associated with decreased motor movements, decreasing interactions with the environment, and feelings of apathy and listlessness. Little is known about behaviors associated with passivity, and these behaviors have not been categorized. Organizing Construct: Taxonomy construction. Passive behaviors in people with Alzheimer's disease were conceptualized as disturbing behaviors, patterns of personality change, and negative symptoms. Methods: The taxonomy was developed using critical reviews of 15 empirical studies published 1985 through 1998. Procedures included listing behaviors; clustering behaviors into inductively derived groupings; conducting an expert panel-review, making revisions, and conduting a second review; establishing global and category-by-category reliability using Cohen's Kappa. Findings: The nonhierarchic, natural taxonomy indicated five categories of behaviors associated with passivity in Alzheimer's disease: diminutions of cognition, psychomotor activity, emotions, interactions with people, and interactions with the environment. Analysis indicated substantial agreement beyond chance and showed statistically significant agreement among the six nurse-expert raters. Areas of synchrony between the taxonomy and the Need-Driven Dementia Compromised Behavior Model were identified. Conclusions: This taxonomy of passive behaviors in patients with Alzheimer's disease showed empirical rigor and compatibility with a middle-range theory and can be viewed as a sensitizing analytic scheme to guide future practice, research, and theory development. [source]


Enduring love: A grounded formal theory of women's experience of domestic violence

RESEARCH IN NURSING & HEALTH, Issue 4 2001
Margaret H. Kearney
Abstract Using a grounded formal theory approach, 13 qualitative research reports were analyzed with the goal of synthesizing a middle-range theory of women's responses to violent relationships. The combined sample numbered 282 ethnically and geographically diverse women ages 16,67. Within cultural contexts that normalized relationship violence while promoting idealized romance, these women dealt with the incongruity of violence in their relationships as a basic process of enduring love. In response to shifting definitions of their relationship situations, many women moved through four phases, which began with discounting early violence for the sake of their romantic commitment ("This is what I wanted"), progressed to immobilization and demoralization in the face of increasingly unpredictable violence that was endured by the careful monitoring of partner behavior and the stifling of self ("The more I do, the worse I am"), shifted to a perspective that redefined the situation as unacceptable ("I had enough"), and finally moved out of the relationship and toward a new life ("I was finding me"). Variations in the manifestation and duration of these phases were found to be linked to personal, sociopolitical, and cultural contexts. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Res Nurs Health 24:270,282, 2001 [source]