Dorothy e. johnson nursing theorist

She was the youngest of seven siblings. Her father Charles-Leroy Johnson born inworked in the fishing industry and her mother was Annie Bryce Johnson born in She graduated at age 17 from Senior High Schoo l in Savannah. Finally, in she received her Master of public health from Harvard University.

Dorothy e. johnson nursing theorist: Dorothy E. Johnson was an American

From January to Julyshe worked as an instructor of nursing at Vanderbilt University. In this year she also worked briefly as a staff nurse at the Chatham-Savannah Health Council. Inshe returned to her academic career at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, a position that she held until From untilshe served as assistant, associate, and professor of pediatric nursing at the University of California at Los Angeles.

She had an early retirement following an open heart surgery. Finally, she left California to live in Key Largo, Florida.

Dorothy e. johnson nursing theorist: Dorothy Johnson's theory defined Nursing

Here, she assisted in the developing of a baccalaureate program of Nursing. Inshe introduced the concept of nursing diagnosis to differentiate the work of nursing from medicine. She distinguished nursing from medicine by noting that nursing views the patient as a behavioral system whereas medicine views the patient as a biological system. For Johnson, it was very important to base knowledge upon research findings as the basis of nursing science.

In this model first proposed in[ 4 ] nurses see their clients as being more important than their illnesses; a patient is perceived as a group of subsystems that form a complete behavioral system. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Her many publications on this subject profoundly influenced theoretical thinking in nursing during the second half of the twentieth century.

She held a strong conviction that continuous improvement of care was the ultimate goal of nursing. Her paper, entitled, One Conceptual Model of Nursing, is a classic contribution to Nursing literature. Dorothy Johnson died in February at the age of Before she died, she was pleased that her theory had been found useful in furthering the development of a theoretical basis for nursing and was being used as a nursing practice model on an institution-wide basis.

It advocates fostering efficient and effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness and stresses the importance of research-based knowledge about the effect of nursing care on patients. The patient is identified as a behavioral system composed of seven behavioral subsystems: affiliative, dependency, ingestive, eliminative, sexual, aggressive, and achievement.

An imbalance in any of the behavioral subsystems results in disequilibrium.

Dorothy e. johnson nursing theorist: Johnson's behavioral system theory

Thus, nursing had an explicit goal of action in patient welfare. According to the Behavior System Model, the goals of nursing are fourfold: 1 To assist the patient whose behavior is proportional to social demands. And 4 To assist the patient whose behavior does not give evidence of unnecessary trauma as a consequence of illness. It is functionally significant because it serves a useful purpose in social life and the individual.

And lastly, there are three functional requirements for the subsystems. And 3 The system must be stimulated for use to enhance growth and prevent stagnation. Johnson views human beings as having two major systems: the biological system and the behavioral system. It is the role of medicine to focus on the biological system, whereas nursing focuses on the behavioral system.

The concept of a human being was defined as a behavioral system that strives to make continual adjustments to achieve, maintain, or regain balance to the steady-state adaptation. The behavioral system reflects adjustments and adaptations that are successful somehow, and to some degree… adaptation is functionally efficient and effective.

A mini system is maintained concerning the entire system when it or the environment is not disturbed. The predisposition to act. It implies that despite having only a few alternatives to select a behavioral response, the individual will rank those options and choose the option considered most desirable.

Dorothy e. johnson nursing theorist: Johnson is known for her Behavior

On a general level, it provides survival and security. Its consequences are social inclusion, intimacy, and the formation and maintenance of a strong social bond. Its consequences are approval, attention or recognition, and physical assistance. Developmentally, dependency behavior evolves from almost total dependence on others to a greater degree of dependence on self.

A certain amount of interdependence is essential for the survival of social groups. For more detailed information: Behavior System Model of Nursing. Johnson Dorothy E. Barriers and Hazards in Counseling. To assist the patient who is able to modify his behavior in ways that it supports biological imperatives. To assist the patient whose behavior does not give evidence of unnecessary trauma as a consequence of illness.

It is functionally significant because it serves a useful purpose in social life as well as for the individual. There are three functional requirements for the subsystems. The system must be protected from toxic influences with which the system cannot cope.