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Abdellah’s Nursing Theory

Abdellah’s Nursing Theory

Rachel Hughes
Old Dominion University
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Abdellah’s Nursing Theory
Abdellah’s 21 Nursing Problem Theory was developed by Faye Abdellah, a nurse,

professor, researcher, and Deputy Surgeon General . She viewed nursing as not only a

profession but an art and a science. According to Abdellah, nursing practice uses a combination

of professional skills, critical thinking, research, and care. The 21 Nursing Problems center

around three major concepts: physical needs, sociological needs, and emotional needs of the

patients. The nursing problems are then even further broken down into basic needs, sustaining

needs, healing needs, and recovery needs.

The benefits of this theory is that it encompasses the patient as a whole and focuses on

every aspect of nursing care. The theory is extremely relevant to nursing care especially in an

educational, hospital, or inpatient setting. Limitations of the theory are that in other nursing care

settings, the theory is not as relevant.

The article entitled “Faye Abdellah Model to Banishing Social Stigma of Head Lice

Among School Students” was a study conducted in select schools in Egypt and Saudi Arabia

(Allam, Al Megrin & Alkeridis, 2016). It was noticed that many students and parents are

misinformed about the causes and spread of lice in the schools. There was often a stigma placed

on the children with lice. They were thought of as dirty and unkempt. The parents as well would

feel the judgement of other parents and/or teachers if their child had lice. The researchers used

observation and questionnaires to gauge feelings, knowledge, and assumptions surrounding

students with head lice. The goal of the study was to use Abdellah’s Nursing Theory as a guide

to educating participants on head lice and increasing self-esteem and health among those

infected. The theory was also utilized to educate on prevention and treatment options. The results

showed that with education, stigma surrounding students with head lice were reduced and self

esteem was increased in students who had head lice. It was also found that the school nurses
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Abdellah’s Nursing Theory
were in the perfect position to provide this education (Allam et. al., 2016). This article gave a

good example of putting nursing theory into practice. The study took into account the physical as

well as mental and emotional needs of the students who were affected by head lice as well as

their peers. With the use of education and advocacy, feelings and perceptions towards these

students were changed.

An issue in this nurse’s clinical setting is preventing illness and injury, and tending to the

physical and emotional needs of each patient. Issues with allergy care include that the patients

have multiple physical needs as well as mental needs as well. In regards to food allergies, there is

often a lot of apprehension, anxiety, and fear surrounding a patient's allergy and the possible life

threatening symptoms that may occur. With other types of allergies, the symptoms may not be

life threatening, but there is still a physical need for relief of the symptoms. This touches at two

of the focuses of Abdellah's Nursing Theory, physical and emotional needs. Specifically, this

relates to Abdellah’s problems #9 “to recognize the physiologic responses of the body to disease

conditions, pathologic, physiologic, and compensatory,” #10 “to facilitate the maintenance of

regulatory mechanisms and functions,” #12 “to identify and accept positive and negative

expressions, feelings, and reactions,” and #13 “to identify and accept interrelatedness of

emotions and organic illness” (). The nurse should recognize that there is an actual, physical

issue at play (an allergy) as well as accompanying emotions. This should guide the nurse to as

always, use their clinical skills and knowledge to best care for the patient. Additionally, it should

encourage the nurse to use therapeutic communication when interacting with patients.

Personally, this nursing theory is an encouragement to view the patient as a whole and

not just to focus on one area of care only. When performing specific patient care tasks, one can

be tempted to only concentrate on the one task at hand and not to take into account other areas of
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Abdellah’s Nursing Theory
care the patient may need. For example, if a patient is being allergy tested, the nurse may do an

excellent job at skillfully and correctly performing the allergy testing. But according to Abdellah,

an excellent nurse would take the time to address other areas of care such as the patient's fears or

uncertainty surrounding the testing and what the possible results could mean for their health

going forward.

This assignment gives a better understanding of the heart behind Abdellah’s Nursing

Theory. It encourages nurses to consider the patient as a whole and gives guidelines for holistic

patient care.

References
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Abdellah’s Nursing Theory

Allam, N. A., Al Megrin, A. A., & Alkeridis, A. L. (2016). Faye Abdellah Model to Banishing
Social Stigma of Head Lice Among School Students. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 5(1),
1-11.