BETTY NEUMAN

BY:
SRI NUR YANTI MARGOLANG
NPM : 12.11.086
 BETTY NEUMAN
BIOGRAPHY
 Born in 1924, in Lowel, Ohio.
 Completed her initial nursing education with double
honors at People Hospital School of Nursing (now
General Hospital), Akron, Ohio, in 1047.
 Earned a baccalaureate degree in public health and
psychology with honors (1957) and a master’s degree in
mental health, public health consultation (1966), from
the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
 Completed a doctoral degree in psychology from Pacific
Western University in 1985 (B. Neuman, personal
communication, June 3, 1984)
 Pioneer of nursing involvement in mental health
together with Donna Aquilina who first develop the
nurse counselor role within community crisis centers in
Los Angeles (B. Neuman, personal communication,
June 21, 1992)
 Because of her important contributions to the field on
Nursing, Dr. Neuman was named Honorary Member of
the Fellowship of the American Academy of Nursing in
1993.
 Received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the
Grand Valley State University in Michigan in 1998. For
the past years, Dr. Betty Neuman has continuously
developed and made famous the Neuman systems
model through her work as an educator, author, health
consultant.
INFLUENCES
Betty Neuman took inspiration in developing her theory from the
following theories/ philosophers:
1. Pierre Tielhard deChardin : a philosopher-priest that
believed human beings are continually evolving towards a state
of perfection – an Omega Point
2. Gestalt Theory : A theory of German origin which proposes
that the dynamic interaction of the individual and the situation
determines experience and behavior.
3. General Adaptation Syndrome mainly talks about an
individual’s reaction to stress on the 3 levels a) alarm b)
resistance c) exhaustion
4. General Systems Theory postulates that the world is made
up of systems that are interconnected and are influenced by
each other.
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
• Each client system is unique, a composite of factors and
characteristics within a given range of responses
contained within a basic structure.
• Many known, unknown, and universal stressors exist.
Each differ in it’s potential for disturbing a client’s usual
stability level or normal LOD (Line of Defence).
• The particular inter-relationships of client variables at
any point in time can affect the degree to which a client
is protected by the flexible LOD against possible
reaction to stressors.
• Each client/ client system has evolved a normal range of
responses to the environment that is referred to as a
normal LOD. The normal LOD can be used as a
standard from which to measure health deviation.
• When the flexible LOD is no longer capable of protecting
the client/ client system against an environmental
stressor, the stressor breaks through the normal LOD
• The client whether in a state of wellness or illness, is a
dynamic composite of the inter-relationships of the
variables. Wellness is on a continuum of available energy
to support the system in an optimal state of system
stability.
• Implicit within each client system are internal resistance
factors known as LOR, which function to stabilize and
realign the client to the usual wellness state.
• Primary prevention relates to G.K. that is applied in client
assessment and intervention, in identification and
reduction of possible or actual risk factors.
• Secondary prevention relates to symptomatology
following a reaction to stressor, appropriate ranking of
intervention priorities and treatment to reduce their
noxious effects.
• Tertiary prevention relates to adjustive processes taking
place as reconstitution begins and maintenance factors
move the back in circular manner toward primary
prevention.
• The client as a system is in dynamic, constant energy
exchange with the environment.
FOUR NURSING PARADIGMS

PERSON
Human being is a total person as a client system and the
person is a layered multidimensional being.

Each layer consists of five person variable or subsystems:

– Physiological - Refers of the physicochemical structure
and function of the body.
– Psychological - Refers to mental processes and
emotions.
– Socio-cultural - Refers to relationships and
social/cultural expectations and activities.
– Spiritual - Refers to the influence of spiritual beliefs.
– Developmental - Refers to those processes related to
development over the lifespan.
ENVIRONMENT
• "the totality of the internal and external forces (intrapersonal,
interpersonal and extra-personal stressors) which surround a
person and with which they interact at any given time."
• The internal environment exists within the client system.
• The external environment exists outside the client system.
• The created environment is an environment that is created
and developed unconsciously by the client and is symbolic of
system wholeness.

HEALTH
• Health is equated with wellness.
• “the condition in which all parts and subparts (variables) are in
harmony with the whole of the client (Neuman, 1995)”.
• The client system moves toward illness and death when more
energy is needed than is available. The client system moved
toward wellness when more energy is available than is
needed
NURSING
 a unique profession that is concerned with all of the
variables which influence the response a person might
have to a stressor.
 person is seen as a whole, and it is the task of nursing
to address the whole person.
 Neuman defines nursing as “action which assist
individuals, families and groups to maintain a maximum
level of wellness, and the primary aim is stability of the
patient/client system, through nursing interventions to
reduce stressors.’’
 The role of the nurse is seen in terms of degree of
reaction to stressors, and the use of primary, secondary
and tertiary interventions.
THEORETICAL ASSERTIONS
Theoretical assertions are the relationships among the essential
concepts of a model.
• The Neuman model depicts the nurse as an active participant
with the client and as “concerned with all the variables
affecting an individual’s response to stressors”.
• The client is in a reciprocal relationship with the environment
in that “he interacts with this environment by adjusting himself
to it or adjusting it to himself”.
• Neuman links the four essential concepts of person,
environment, health, and nursing in her statements regarding
primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.
• Earlier publications by Neuman stated basic assumptions that
linked essential concepts of the model. These statements
have also been identified as propositions and serve to define,
describe, and link the concepts of the model.