SELF-TRANSCENDENCE THEORY

Pamela.G.Reed (1952-present).
 Self –Transcendence theory
The theory was postulated by Pamela G.Reed.
She was born in Detroit,Michigan on june 13 1952.
Graduated with her baccalaureate from Wayne State
university in 1974
She earned her Masters in psychiatric nursing and in
nursing education
She got Ph.D in 1982 with a concentration in nursing
theory and research
She worked in many administrative positions and also as a
teacher
Major Concepts and Definitions
1. Vulnerability
It is defined as one’s awareness of
personal mortality. The concept of
vulnerability include awareness about
lifecrisis such as disability, chronic illness,
child birth,etc.
2. Self-transcendence
It refers to a fluctuation of a percieved
boundaries that extends the person
beyond the immediate and constructed
views of self and the world.
 3.Well-being
It is defined as “the sense of feeling whole
and healthy, in accord with one’s own
criteria for wholeness and well-being”.
Well-being can be described interms of 2
kinds of change
a)Changes in complexity in a life

b)Changes in integration
4.Moderating-mediating factors
These are the personal and contextual
variables, their interactions influence the
process of self-transcendence.Eg:
cognitive ability, age, gender, life
experiences,social environment…
5. Points of intervention
 There are two points of intervention.
Either the nursing actions focus directly on
the person’s inner resource for self-
transcendence or it focus on some of the
personal and contextual factors
  Model of self-transcendence theory

Vulnerability
Well-being

Self-
transcendence

Personal & Contextual

factors that mediate or
moderate relationships.
Points of
interventions to
promote self-
transcendence
 Major Assumptions
1. Health
Defined as a life process of both positive
and negative experiences from which
individuals create unique values and
environments that promote well-being.

2.Nursing
The role of nursing activity was to assist
persons with the skills required for
3.Person
 persons were conceived as developing
over their life-span in interaction with other
persons and with in an environment of
changing complexity that could both
positively and negatively contribute to health
and well-being.

4.Environment
 Family, social networks, physical
 Theoretical Assertions
 The first proposition of theory is that self-
transcendence is greater in persons facing
end-of-own life issues than in persons not
facing such issues.
 The second proposition is that conceptual
boundaries are related to well-being.
Fluctuations in conceptual boundaries may
influence positively or negatively across the
life span
 Third assumptions is that the personal
and environmental factors function as
moderators or mediators of the
relationship between vulnerability, self-
transcendence and well-being.
Acceptance by the nursing
community
 1.Practice
 Applicable in the field of education and
psychiatric nursing practice.
 Self-transcendence may be integral to
healing in many life situations
 Nurse activities that promote the
perspectives of self-reflection,hope, altruism
and faith in vulnerable persons are
associated with increased sense of well-
being
 2.Education
 Roger’s theory,Newman’s theory,Watson’s
theory and Parse’s theory share a common
view in identifying self-transcendence as an
appropriate philosophical foundation for the
education.
 The nurses must be well educated to
promote self-transcendence views and
behaviours in their clients.
 3.Research
 So many studies were conducted using
this theory ( to demonstrate the
relationship between quality of life and
self-transcendence in person with
AIDS,elderly men with prostate cancer,
liver transplant reciepients).
 Research results from the studies provide
additional empirical support for the
theory
Critique
 1.Clarity and Consistency
 In attempting to clarify concepts such
as health & self-transcendence she
presented various definitions and
examples which although theoretically
consistent may confuse readers.
 In terms of structural clarity(how
understandable are the connections
between concepts), some relationships
between the concepts are not fully
defined
 Structural consistency(assessing the
theory purpose,concept definitions,how
identical are the assumptions etc.) is good
in that the identified relationships are
logical and consistent
 Some definitions of the concepts (from
life span developmental theory and
Roger’s theory) are difficult for nurses to
grasp.
 2.Simplicity(Should have minimal number of
concepts and interrelationships)
 It is strong on simplicity as it involves only 3
major concepts(Vulnerability, Self-
transcendence, Well-being) and 2 other
concepts(personal & environmental factors
and Point of intervention)
 3.Generality
 Thistheory can be applied to a
wide variety of human health
situations. It can be applied to
various life events ranging from child
birth to life threatening illness and
dying.This theory has good
generality..
 l precision
endence can be measured by using self-transcendence
well-being can be measured by using variety of
ndicators
e consequences
y tested in different researches has led to new
e that can be useful in nursing practice.
y provides insight in to developmental nature of
Problem statement
 A correlational study to assess the
involvement of social support system and
coping with end stage disease among lung
cancer patients admitted in a tertiary
hospital ,Kochi.