Self-Care Deficit Theory Essay

Introduction

Contemporary nursing education and practice are grounded on diverse nursing theories that are widely applied. Their primary goals include specifying, predicting, and defining the phenomenon of nursing. Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory was developed by Dorothea E. Orem, one of the prominent American nursing theorists. At present, it is among the most significant theories of nursing. It describes the issue of self-care deficit, its major determinants, and the ways it can be managed. Orem was focused on the increase in the quality of nursing in general hospitals (Alligood, 2014). The theorist, having nursing education herself, was able to treat it through the prism of practical experience and research work (Parker & Smith, 2015). Orem attempted to define nursing and came up with a description of its subject. According to Orem (as cited in Parker & Smith, 2015, p.122): “The condition is the inability of persons to provide continuously for themselves the amount and quality of required self-care because of situations of personal health.” Thus, it can be stated that it made her contribution to the contemporary theory and practice of nursing.Self-Care Deficit Theory Essay

Analysis of Basic Concepts and Major Relationships in the Theory

The theory developed by Orem discloses the problem of low self-care culture. People tend to rely on medical science that can help in case of necessity and do not pay enough attention to the issue of self-care despite the fact that it can reduce the risk of health problems. Another issue related to the self-care problem centers around the people who cannot take care of themselves appropriately due to a disease. Moreover, people frequently do not have enough knowledge to act properly in situations when self-care is necessary. All those factors condition the deficit of self-care. The Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory focuses on educational interventions that can teach nurses and the people how to take care of patients in different situations.

There are six central concepts in Orem’s theory. They are “(1) self-care, (2) self-care requisites, (3) self-care and dependent-care agency, (4) therapeutic self-care demand, (5) self-care deficit, and (6) nursing agency” (Seed & Torkelson, 2012, p. 395). Self-care is an intentional, learned action carried out by an individual who is able to regulate his or her own functions to improve and preserve personal well-being. Self-care requisites are “insights framed by individuals about the kind and course of actions that are necessary for regulation of aspects of their own functioning, development, or well-being (Seed & Torkelson, 2012, p. 396).Self-Care Deficit Theory Essay

These requisites can be common such as the need for air, water or food, developmental requisites that usually change as the person grows and develops, and health-deviation requisites that are connected with the needs of a person’s physical and mental health. Self-care and dependent-care agency are related to people who provide self-care or dependent care to support “human functioning, development, and well-being” (Seed & Torkelson, 2012, p. 396). Therapeutic self-care demand proves that the individual possesses the knowledge and experience of interventions necessary to provide self-care and provide the regulation of human function. Self-care deficit appears in case of a discrepancy between the self-care needs and the ability to satisfy them.