The Nursing Theory section on StudyingNurse.com is your complete guide to understanding, comparing, and applying the frameworks that shape modern nursing practice. This collection brings together 82 key nursing theories and the theorists behind them — from Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory to Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory and Leininger’s Culture Care Theory.
Each guide explores a theorist’s background, core concepts, and real-world applications, helping nursing students connect theory to evidence-based practice. You’ll find concise explanations of grand, middle-range, and practice-level theories, along with examples that show how these ideas influence patient care, leadership, education, and research.
Whether you’re preparing a nursing theory paper, developing a conceptual framework for your project, or simply strengthening your understanding of professional foundations, this section provides clear, accessible summaries written by experienced nurse educators.
Some of the featured guides include:
Imogene King’s Goal Attainment Theory
Madeleine Leininger’s Culture Care Theory
Dorothy Johnson’s Behavioral System Model
Lydia Hall’s Core, Care, and Cure Model
Myra Levine’s Conservation Model
Katharine Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory
The goal of this section is simple: to help you see how nursing theory guides practice, improves patient outcomes, and defines the profession’s unique role in healthcare.
Patricia Benner nursing theory, articulated in her seminal work “From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice,” has significantly shaped the understanding of clinical competency within the nursing profession.
Betty Neuman Systems Model (NSM), is a holistic framework designed to enhance patient-centered care through a rigorous understanding of wellness promotion and stress management.
Marilyn Anne Ray theory of bureaucratic caring provides direction and guidance for nurses to understand the way caring is lived and expressed throughout the hospital organization. In this theory, the…