Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory
QUESTION
Choose a middle-range theory or grand theory that, in your opinion, can be applied to research.
The middle- range theory is Kolcaba Comfort Theory
What is the phenomenon of concern in this theory?
What are the assumptions underpinning this theory?
Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory
ANSWER
Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory
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Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory
Kolcaba’s comfort theory is a middle-range theory developed by Katharine Kolcaba who is a nursing professor. The development of the theory was mainly focused on the exploration of different understandings of comfort, what constitutes comfort, what contributes to comfort, and its disturbances. The theory’s main concern is comfort and the attempt to establish the causes of discomfort among patients and what promotes their comfort. According to Kolcaba, comfort in patients exist in three forms relief, ease, and transcendence. In terms of relief, patients achieve comfort when care providers meet their health needs. Ease comfort occurs when patients feel satisfied with the care received while transcendence comfort is experienced when patients are able to overcome health challenges (Yazdi, 2021).
Kolcaba’s definition of a patient is an individual, family, institution, or community presented with health care needs. Their comfort experience can be either physical, environmental, sociocultural, or psychosocial. The theory describes nursing as the act of identifying and assessing the comfort needs of patients, creating and executing effective care plans, and assessing the comfort of the patients after the implementation of care plans. In assessing, nurses can objectively or subjectively assess a patient to determine the patient’s comfortability with the care plan provided (Yazdi, 2021).
The theory’s main assumptions include that individuals possess holistic responses to stimuli. Also, the theory assumes that all individuals desire to achieve comfort as a holistic outcome which applies to the nursing discipline (Coelho, 2019). Further, individuals attempt to meet or have met their basic health comfort needs in life and those patients are encouraged to participate in health-seeking behaviors of their choice when their comfort is enhanced. The result of health-seeking behaviors among patients is that they get satisfied with their health care. Along with these assumptions is the perspective that the integrity of an institution is grounded on a value system oriented to care recipients (Coelho, 2019).
References
Coelho, A. R. N. (2019). The guided imagery in comfort in palliative care.
Kolcaba, K. Y. (1994). A theory of holistic comfort for nursing. Journal of advanced nursing, 19(6), 1178-1184.
Yazdi, K. (2021). A Review of kolcaba Comfort Theory of Nursing. Yafteh, 23(1), 0-0.