Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory in Nursing

Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory in Nursing

Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory: Introduction

The contemporary society is focused on the cultivation of humanistic values, which also presupposes the gradual improvement of the state of the health of the nation. Due to this fact, nursing plays a critical role in the evolution of communities and the increase in the quality of people’s lives. This fact results in the increased attention to the nursing theory as one of the potent tools to assist patients in their recovery and meet the diversified requirements of all people who might need medical assistance and care. At the same time, the sphere has entered the stage of its rapid development due to the extensive use of innovative technologies.

It results in the emergence of new ways to perform traditional tasks and improve the quality of care. However, the issues that have been topical for decades also remain relevant. For this reason, it is critical to achieving an improved understanding of the nursing theory as one of the necessities to align the connection between the past and the future.

Dorothea Orem’s Self Care Deficit Theory

The given paper revolves around Orem’s self-care deficit theory as one of the pillars of modern nursing. It rests on the central idea that an individual is an independent and powerful creature that possesses the ability to adapt to any environment if there is a critical need for it (Orem, 2001).

The main reason Dorothea Orem introduced her theory was the desire to improve the quality of nursing in hospitals. In such a way, she offered a simple though effective paradigm assuming that there should be another perspective on the provision of care to patients that is focused on the necessity to create conditions beneficial for the emergence of the interest for self-care and engagement in similar activities that can help to avoid further complications and attain significant success (Orem, 2011). The importance of the given theory can be evidenced by the fact that it remains relevant to modern nursing and numerous specialists take it as the guide for their actions.

It can be defined as the approach promoting the improved self-care or the practice of activities a patient should initiate on his/her desire to improve the quality of life, maintain his/her health, and attain better treatment results. The ability to engage in self-care might vary in different individuals depending on their age, culture, life experience, social background, level of knowledge, and available resources (Orem, 2001).

However, regardless of these showings, a nurse should be ready to create the atmosphere and conditions beneficial for an individual and his/her engagement in self-care activities that will improve outcomes and teach a patient how to remain healthy and achieve a better quality of life. The outlined paradigm formulates the major assumptions that should regulate the work of a nurse and result in the significant improvement of the results of care, patient-nurse cooperation, and individuals’ ability to perform needed activities.

In the course of the theory’s evolution, Orem formulated several ideas that contributed to the creation of a theoretical framework of the self-care deficit theory and promoted its increased effectiveness. The first one states that all individuals engaged in the treatment process should be self-reliant and responsible for both their and close people’s care as it will help to achieve better outcomes (Orem, 2001). Another one assumes that all people are distinct individuals with their needs and demands that should be considered while delivering care. (Orem, 2001).

Orem (2001) also wants to attract specialists’ attention to the idea that nursing is the act of interaction between two and more people, which should be considered while organizing cooperation between them. This cooperation should also rest on the idea that fulfillment of universal and development self-care requisites is a fundamental element of primary care prevention and health improvement.

Finally, every individual should be interested in the acquisition and promotion of appropriate self-care behaviors that should help to avoid the emergence of new health issues or deterioration of the state of health (Malekzadeh, Amouzeshi, & Mazlom, 2018). Finally, all these actions and incentives should be learned through the prism of socio-cultural context, which is an important part of the work of any nurse. Observation of these basic principles will help to attain better results and cultivate a new health culture.

Dorothea Orem Metaparadigm

Like any other nursing theories, Orem’s self-deficit framework presupposes the existence of the four basic meta paradigms that i