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Introduction
B. S. N. from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942; and her M.P.H. from Harvard
University in Boston in 1948.
From 1949 till retirement in 1978 she was an assistant professor of pediatric nursing, an associate
professor of nursing, and a professor of nursing at the University of California in Los Angeles.
Johnson stressed the importance of research-based knowledge about the effect of nursing care on clients.
Dorothy first proposed her model of nursing care in 1968 as fostering of the efficient and effective
behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness".
She also stated that nursing was concerned with man as an integrated whole and this is the specific
knowledge of order we require.
In 1980 Johnson published her conceptualization of behavioral system of model for nursingwhere she
explains her definitions of the behavioral system model.
Definition of nursing
She defined nursing as an external regulatory force which acts to preserve the organization and integration of
the patients behaviors at an optimum level under those conditions in which the behaviors constitutes a threat to
the physical or social health, or in which illness is found
Four goals of nursing are to assist the patient:
1. Whose behavior commensurate with social demands.
2. Who is able to modify his behavior in ways that it supports biological imperatives
3. Who is able to benefit to the fullest extent during illness from the physicians knowledge and skill.
4. Whose behavior does not give evidence of unnecessary trauma as a consequence of illness
Assumptions
There are several layers of assumptions that Johnson makes in the development of conceptualization of the
behavioral system model viz.
A system tends to achieve a balance among the various forces operating within and upon it', and that
man strive continually to maintain a behavioral system balance and steady state by more or less
automatic adjustments and adaptations to the natural forces impinging upon him.
3. A behavioral system, which both requires and results in some degree of regularity and constancy in
behavior, is essential to man that is to say, it is functionally significant in that it serves a useful purpose,
both in social life and for the individual.
4. Last, system balance reflects adjustments and adaptations that are successful in some way and to some
degree..
Assumptions about structure and function of each subsystem
from the form the behavior takes and the consequences it achieves can be inferred what drive has
been stimulated or what goal is being sought
Each individual has a predisposition to act with reference to the goal, in certain ways rather than the
other ways. This predisposition is called as set.
The fourth assumption is that it produce observable outcome that is the individuals behavior.
These behaviors are orderly, purposeful and predictable and sufficiently stable and recurrent to be
amenable to description and explanation
Attachment or affiliative subsystem: social inclusion intimacy and the formation and attachment of a
strong social bond.
Ingestive subsystem: the emphasis is on the meaning and structures of the social events surrounding
the occasion when the food is eaten
Eliminative subsystem: human cultures have defined different socially acceptable behaviors for
excretion of waste ,but the existence of such a pattern remains different from culture to Culture.
Sexual subsystem:" both biological and social factor affect the behavior in the sexual subsystem
Aggressive subsystem: " it relates to the behaviors concerned with protection and self preservation
Johnson views aggressive subsystem as one that generates defensive response from the individual when
life or territory is being threatened
Achievement subsystem: " provokes behavior that attempt to control the environment intellectual,
physical, creative, mechanical and social skills achievement are some of the areas that Johnson
recognizes".
Affiliation
Dependency
Sexuality
Aggression
Elimination
Ingestion
Achievement
Human being as having two major systems, the biological system and the behavioral system. It is role
of the medicine to focus on biological system where as Nursling's focus is the behavioral system.
Society relates to the environment on which the individual exists. According to Johnson an
individuals behavior is influenced by the events in the environment
Health is a purposeful adaptive response, physically mentally, emotionally, and socially to internal and
external stimuli in order to maintain stability and comfort.
Nursing has a primary goal that is to foster equilibrium within the individual. Nursing is concerned
with the organized and integrated whole, but that the major focus is on maintaining a balance in the
Behavior system when illness occurs in an individual.
Nursing process
Assessment
Grubbs developed an assessment tool based on Johnsons seven subsystems plus a subsystem she labeled as
restorative which focused on activities of daily living. An assessment based on behavioral model does not easily
permit the nurse to gather detailed information about the biological systems:
Affiliation
Dependency
Sexuality
Aggression
Elimination
Ingestion
Achievement
Restorative
Diagnosis
Diagnosis tends to be general to the system than specific to the problem. Grubb has proposed 4 categories of
nursing diagnosis derived from Johnson's behavioral system model:
Insufficiency
Discrepancy
Incompatibility
Dominance
Evaluation is based on the attainment of a goal of balance in the identified subsystems. If the baseline data are
available for an individual, the nurse may have goal for the individual to return to the baseline behavior. If the
alterations in the behavior that are planned do occur, the nurse should be able to observe the return to the
previous behavior patterns. Johnson's behavioral model with the nursing process is a nurse centered activity,
with the nurse determining the clients needs and state behavior appropriate for that need.
Johnsons and Characteristics of a theory
Interrelate concepts to create a different way of viewing a phenomenon - Concepts in Johnson's theory
are interrelated.
Theories can be bases of hypothesis that can be tested - Research studies are conducted applying
Jonhson's theory.
Theories contribute to and assist in increasing the body of knowledge within the discipline through the
research implemented to validate them.
Theories must be consistent with other validated theories, laws and principles but will leave unanswered
questions that need to be investigated.
Limitation
Johnson does not clearly interrelate her concepts of subsystems comprising the behavioral system
model.
The focus on the behavioral system makes it difficult for nurses to work with physically impaired
individual to use this theory.
The model is very individual oriented so the nurses working with the group have difficulty in its
implementation.
The model is very individual oriented so the family of the client is only considered as an environment.
Johnson does not define the expected outcomes when one of the system is affected by the nursing
implementation an implicit expectation is made that all human in all cultures will attain same outcome
homeostasis.
Summary
Johnsons Behavioral system model is a model of nursing care that advocates the fostering of efficient and
effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness. The patient is defined as behavioral system
composed of 7 behavioral subsystems. Each subsystem composed of four structural characteristics i.e. drives,
set, choices and observable behavior.
Three functional requirement of each subsystem includes
Any imbalance in each system results in disequilibrium .it is nursing role to assist the client to return to the state
of equilibrium.