Self Care Deficit Theory: Dorothea Orem Self-Care Deficit Theory

In a nutshell, Orem uses her Self-Care Theory to view health as a state composed of developed mental and bodily functioning and human structures. This is because it includes psychological, social, physical, and interpersonal aspects (Caruso, Cisar & Pipe, 2008). Basically, major assumptions of Orem's self-care theory include the fact that people should be responsible and self-reliant in relation to their own care and that of others, especially family members. Orem argued that

Dorthea Orem based her nursing theory on a holistic approach. She believed that emotional, mental and physical balance were three parts of a whole in which individuals and healthcare providers needed to focus on in order to provide the best quality of life possible. Orem described much of her theory by defining self-care, self-care deficit, self-care requisites, and agency. Self-care is the care taken by an individual in order to meet his or her self-care demands. Agency refers to a person’s ability to care for their self (Hood, 2014). In Orem’s theory, there is a deficit when the agency cannot perform the necessary actions to sustain their self-care demands, which are, “all self-care activities required to meet existing self-care requisites” (Berman & Snyder, 2014, p. 44).

Many different factors can affect these abilities and must be considered by nurses when providing comprehensive care. She referred to this new thought process as the Self-care Deficit Theory of Nursing, which also is known as the Orem Model of Nursing. Orem published the basis for this theory in her book Nursing: Concepts of Practice in 1971. The Self-care Deficit Theory of Nursing earned Orem much acclaim and respect within the medical world. She became a lead theorist in nursing education and practice for the rest of her career. Her book, Nursing: Concepts of Practice, is still widely read today as it enters into its sixth edition. Wayne,

The goal of improving nursing care lead Dorothea E. Orem in developing this theory. It makes the nurse know when nursing care is needed. That is to say that nursing is only needed when an adult is not able or has limitations to care for him/herself. It is used when the patient is not capable to care for him/herself, and ends as soon so the patient is able there are five method nurses use to offer therapeutic assistance or help patients

Dorthea E. Orem is a well recognized and a very well educated nursing theorist. She had a lot of experience as a nurse, and this greatly helped her provide insight into her views of nursing practice, education, and science. “The question that directed Orem’s thinking was, “What condition exists in a person when judgments are made that a nurse(s) should be brought into the situation?”” (Berbiglia & Banfield, 2014) Her biggest focus was the Self- Care Deficit Nursing Theory.

A grand theory in nursing would be Doretha Orem’s self care theory. This theory encompasses the entire concept of nursing in the fact that it states individuals will strive to meet healthcare needs to maintain health and wellness. This is very broad, can not be tested and is used in a variety of settings and populations.

Concept Analysis is an essential part of nursing theory development. Analyzing concepts of theories assists the reader in defining the attributes of the theory as well as identifying key points developed in the theory. Concept analysis helps clarify theories and evaluate their meanings. Studying the concepts helps us define and explain relationships between nurses and patients and this produces nursing theories (Orem, Denyes & Bekel, 2001). This paper will discuss the concept of self-care as used in Dorothea Orem’s self-care theory. Definitions and a literature review will be performed as well as identification of antecedents, consequences, and empirical

Nursing theory has become vital aspect of health promotion and health restoration to not only nurses, but people in many areas of healthcare. Nursing theory gives nurses and other healthcare professionals a background on how nursing was preformed when our ancestors, like Florence Nightingale, first began nursing. Nursing theories also help healthcare professionals to see how nursing and other areas in health care will progress further into the future. Although most theories are quite old, they are still relevant and used in everyday nursing to ensure quality care to each individual. Types of theories range from practice based theories, to needs theories, to interactional theories, and others. Each theory has one thing in common: they are important to people for different reasons. How significant each of them are, will depend on your individual view of what is most essential to nursing. One theory which I believe to be crucial to nursing in particular, is Dorothea Orem’s theory of self-care. With this paper, my goal is to thoroughly describe Orem’s theory; to show why it is important in order to progress nursing and all other healthcare practices further. Then I will describe how I as a student nurse plan on using the theory in my future practices as an RN, and what goals I hope to achieve in doing so.

Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory is based upon the idea that individual’s require a set of actions to maintain self-care and independence. When an individual is unable to perform an action required for daily care then that individual has a deficit. In order for the person to regain or acquire the skills needed to overcome this deficit they must first be willing to seek help and take the steps and measure needed (Orem, 1991). Nurse’s play a key role is this process by evaluating what the deficit is, formulating the steps needed, implementing the process and evaluating the results. Some of the concepts to this theory are that of, dependency, nursing, health, person, environment,

In 1957, Dorothea Orem participated in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as a consultant to improve the training of nurses (Johnson & Weber, 2008). From there she attempted to explain the role of nurses in patient care. Through a philosophical lens, according to Banfield (2008), the nature of human beings are the foundation of Orem’s self-care deficit theory. Nature of human beings include the individual’s relationship with the environment, the individual’s capability of developing, the individual’s free will and freedom, and the relationship of the individual with others (Banfield, 2008). The human-environmental relationship emphasizes that patients interchangeably connect with the environment and are never separate from each other. The developmental process includes the importance of the individual reaching their

Dorothea Orem’s self-care theory of nursing is one of the major nursing theories. It pays particular attention to the role of the patient in their own rehabilitation, as it expounds the benefits of self-care. Orem’s theory is well documented and has been used by several researchers as a basis for their research. This particular theory of nursing is broad and can be applied to the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention. Many nursing schools have used this theory as a benchmark or guide in their curriculum development.

In Orem’s book: Guides for developing curricula for the education of practical nurses, Orem defined self-care as being care that individuals provide daily. In this book Orem went on to state that the nurse is no longer needed when there is an observable change in the patient’s status and can now provide self-care. This is the basis of her Self Care Deficit Theory. (Orem, Taylor, & Renpenning, 2003).

Orem saw nursing as a deliberate human action, and believed that anyone with a health related ailment could benefit from nursing. She realized when someone was unable to care for his or herself the individual was suffering from a self-care deficit. This led to the self-care deficit theory. There are three theories within the one theory: the theory of nursing systems, the theory of self-care deficits, and the theory of self-care (Creasia and Friberg, 2011). This theory was selected, because it is easily transferred into daily nursing practice. Not only is it understandable by the group, but transfers easily over to our practice with little difficulties.

When you have the privilege of being or becoming a nurse, the number one goal is to provide excellent care to your clients, and for that goal to take place most successfully, nurses must practice self-care. Self-care aids in keeping nurses healthy including providing the best quality of care to clients. “Care for yourself so you can care for others” is an old saying, that many in the health care profession have forgotten (Halm, 2017). For many nurses, self-care is an approach that seems to indulging, something that nurses do not have time for (Lombardo, 2011). However, it shouldn’t matter if you are a nursing student, a new graduate, or an acute care nurse, taking care of our needs and our own well-being is essential and will also help meet challenges that we all face whether it is at

The self-care deficit theory, a part of the three-part theory proposed by Dorothea Orem (Parker, 1990), identifies that the role of nurse is to fill the deficit in self-care of patients (only when the patient is unable to fulfil the needs). The theory bases on the assumption that every human is able to take care of him/herself, and a nurses requirement comes only when this ability is affected and as per Sitzman & Eichelbergerm Orem’s theory mandates "The degree of nursing care and intervention depends on the degree to which the client is able (or unable) to meet self-care needs” (Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2011) (p. 96). Similarly, it also states that nurse’s responsibility was to help the patient