• Explain how interdisciplinary theories influence nursing science particularly regarding education, practice and research.
• How could a theoretical model from a related discipline impact advanced nursing practice regarding social determinants of health?
• How would a science-based theory help to guide one's advanced nursing role?
• How can knowledge of theory from other disciplines inform education, practice and nursing research?
Provide evidence based sources to support your stance.
A theoretical model from a related discipline can profoundly impact advanced nursing practice, particularly concerning the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), by providing a systematic way to assess and intervene against systemic health barriers.
Example: The Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) from Public Health/Ecology
The Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) posits that health outcomes are influenced by the interaction of five nested levels: individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy.
Impact on Advanced Nursing Practice (ANP): An Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), such as a Nurse Practitioner or Clinical Nurse Specialist, uses the SEM to expand their scope of intervention beyond the individual patient.
Assessment: The APRN assesses not only the patient's medical history but also their housing stability (Community/Policy level), social support network (Interpersonal level), and access to healthy food (Organizational/Community level).
Intervention: Instead of simply prescribing medication for hypertension (Individual level), the APRN also collaborates with community health workers to secure the patient a referral to a food pantry and advocates for better public transportation to the clinic (Policy level). The SEM ensures the APRN addresses the root social cause of the illness, which is often a critical aspect of managing chronic conditions (IOM, 2010).
Interdisciplinary theories significantly enrich nursing science by providing comprehensive frameworks that address the complexity of human health.1 Since nursing's domain encompasses person, health, environment, and nursing itself, integrating knowledge from other fields—such as sociology, psychology, and management—is essential for advancing education, practice, and research (McEwen & Wills, 2019).
| Area | Influence of Interdisciplinary Theories | Example Theory & Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Education | Provides nurses with a broader conceptual lens for understanding human behavior and organizational systems, moving beyond purely biological models. It fosters critical thinking about the "why" behind health disparities. | Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (Psychology): Used to teach nurses how to assess and improve a patient's self-efficacy for managing chronic diseases like diabetes or heart failure. |
| Practice | Offers structured frameworks for assessment and intervention in areas not covered by traditional biomedical models. It guides nurses in addressing the non-clinical factors impacting patient health. | Lewin's Change Theory (Social Psychology): Used by nurse leaders to implement evidence-based practice (EBP) changes within a hospital unit (unfreeze, change, refreeze stages). |
| Research | Provides testable hypotheses and methodologies for studying complex health phenomena. It allows nursing researchers to explore relationships between external factors (environment, policy) and patient outcomes. | General Systems Theory (Biology/Engineering): Used to study the family or the healthcare unit as an interconnected system, where a change in one part affects all others, guiding research on team communication and safety culture (McEwen & Wills, 2019). |