Analysis and Evaluation of Parse's Theory of Man-living-health

Abstract

The evolution of nursing as a scientific discipline is dependent upon the development of its unique theoretical base and the extent of the utilization of this substantive knowledge in practice and research. Nursing's scientific community has a responsibility to appraise its developed conceptual models critically. Melnyk (1983) asserted that, despite the importance of the analysis of nursing theory, there is a paucity of literature critically evaluating the substance, structure and utility of nursing theories for scholarly inquiry and professional application. Melnyk's criticism rings true today. There have been few published critiques in the nursing literature on emerging nursing theories or conceptual models. Man-Living-Health, a theory of nursing developed by Rosemarie Rizzo Parse, was introduced to the nursing community in her 1981 text. In the eight years of its public life, the theory has been read; reviewed and studied by nursing scholars and graduate students; foundational to qualitative research studies whose results have been published and presented at various symposia; adopted and tested as a model for nursing practice in long-term and acute care settings; and translated and disseminated to the international nursing community. Yet, only a few critiques (Limandri, 1982; Cowling, 1988; Phillips, 1987; Winkler, 1983) appear in the literature. These critiques lack some detail about the evolution, substance and pragmatics of the theory.