REPORTED BY: Corre, Anna Mae D.

SUBMITTED TO: Mr. Irvin Dicdican

BETTY NEUMAN PhD, RN, FAAN

SYSTEM MODEL THEORY

BETTY NEUMAN: BACKGROUND

-Born September 11, 1924 in Lowell, Ohio

-Began training at People’s Hospital in Akron, Ohio in 1944 in the Cadet Nursing Program.

-Graduated with diploma in 1947.

-Moved to Los Angeles, California to work as a staff nurse.

-Became head nurse of communicable disease at LA General Hospital.

-Earned BSN from University of California In 1959.

-Master’s degree in mental health/public health from UCLA in 1966.

-1972 the first publication of the Neuman System Model appeared in an article “A Model for Teaching Total Person
Approach to Patient Problems”

-1985 earned doctorate in clinical psychology from Pacific Western University.

-Taught at nursing colleges in Ohio and West Virginia

-1998 Honorary doctoral degree from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

-2010 all of Betty Neuman’s papers and writings were donated to the Bates Center for the Study of the History of
Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania.

METAPARADIGM IN NURSING

PERSON
5 VARIABLE OR SUBSYSTEMS

 Physiologic – bodily structure and function.

 Psychological – cognitive and emotional factors.

 Sociocultural – social/cultural factors.

 Development – accomplishment or age-related.

 Spiritual – understanding of life and faith.

STRESSORS

STRESSORS – are tensions that produce alterations in the normal flow of environment.

Can be:

 INTRAPERSONAL – occurs within the self and comprises of man as a psychospiritual being.

 INTERPERSONAL – occurs between one or more individual and consists of man as a social being.

 EXTRAPERSONAL – occurs outside the individual

ENVIRONMENT
3 CATEGORIES AND INFLUENCE THE CLIENT’S ADAPTATION TO STRESSORS

 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT – exist within the client’s system which involves intrapersonal stressors.

 EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT – exist outside the client’s system which involves both interpersonal and extra-
personal stressor.
  CREATED ENVIRONMENT – unconsciously gathers all the systems variables to create an integrated system.

NURSING

 Nurses assist client with developing methods of adapting to environmental stressors.

 “Action which assist individuals, families and groups to maintain a maximum level of wellness, and primary aim
is stability of the patient/client system, through nursing interventions to reduce stressors” -Neuman

 Role of the nurse is seen in terms of degree of reaction to stressors, and the use of PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND
TERTIARY INTERVENTIONS.

HEALTH

 Being equated with wellness “the condition in which all parts and subparts are in harmony with the whole of the
client” –Neuman, 1995

SYSTEM MODEL IN NURSING PRACTICE

 CLIENT VARIABLE – one or more combination of: Physiological, Psychological, Sociocultural, Developmental and
Spiritual.

 LINE OF RESISTANCE – when the Normal Line of Defense is invaded by too much stressors, producing alterations
in the client’s health.

 NORMAL LINE OF DEFENSE – baseline in determining the level of wellness of client within the continuum of
health.

 FLEXIBLE LINE OF DEFENSE – boundary for the Normal Line of Defense to adjust the situation within the client’s
stability.
PREVENTIONS

PRIMARY

 Protecting normal line of defense and strengthening the flexible line of defense.

 Occur before the system reacts to a stressor and strengthens the person

SECONDARY

• Strengthening internal lines of resistance, reducing the reaction of the stressor, and increasing resistance factors
in order to prevent damage to central core.

• Occur after the system reacts to a stressor.

TERTIARY

 Readapting and stability, and protects reconstitution or return to wellness after treatment.

ACCEPTANCE BY NURSING COMMUNITY

PRACTICE

 Not only applicable to nursing but also multidisciplinary as nurses use the nursing process format and
prevention.

 Applicable in hospitals, health care clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and even birthing centers.
  Specifically applicable to client’s health condition facing complex stressor.

 Help nurses to formulate an approach that can prevent and alleviate the client’s condition

EDUCATION

 Applicable in the academic because of its holistic approach, as it has been widely used both by nursing students
and educators.

 Formed basis for continuing study after graduation thus facilitating growth of nursing knowledge and practice as
it is integrated in nursing curriculum.

 Provides a direction to validate nursing roles and activities setting its applicability beyond nursing practice.

RESEARCH

 Use of testing the efficacy and usefulness of the model in different areas and scope of the nursing practice

 Neuman’s Model is widely used framework in nursing research as it guide the enhancement of nursing care.

 Nursing research expanded the used of the model in hospital, health clinic, homes, community and schools.

ANALYSIS

 SIMPLICITY – can used to understand the health of a person within the health continuum.

 - Identifying the related stressors and possible reactions it can produce to a person helps to simply
understand a client’s well-being.

 - Using her model, nurses and other health care professionals can also have prevention and
restoration activities for a person if used correctly.

 GENERALITY – can use in different health care settings in which nurse is one of the facilitators.

 - Her theory comprehensive and adaptable for the nurse to use in the different practice setting.

 - Applicability is congruent with social, physical, physiological, psychological, spiritual aspects of a

person which is very holistic.

 EMPIRICAL PRECISION – increases the collection of empiricism within the scope of the nursing practice, it
predicted that the enhancement of the theory has an increasing chance

 - This prediction will improve nursing practice as it is being widely used in different practice
settings.

 DERIVABLE CONSEQUENCES – provides guidelines for a professional nurse to have an accurate assessment,
planning, implementation and evaluation of the planned care for their clients.

 - Applicable to the 21st century, therefore it can be useful for basis of research thus producing
new knowledge that can significantly utilized within the scope of the nursing practice.