Nursing research is an important exercise when it comes to healthcare. Such studies help in improving healthcare since they highlight the problems faced by the staff and the patients.Researchers tend to use two main approaches when carrying out nursing research. The two approaches are nursing theoretical framework and interdisciplinary framework. Scholars settle on a certain approach to carry out the research based on their interest. This paper highlights the two approaches; nursing theoretical framework and interdisciplinary theoretical framework, used in nursing researches.

Nursing Theoretical Framework and Interdisciplinary Theoretical Framework

The nursing theoretical framework is the most useful when dealing with nursing research. This module is more reliable since it exposes more issues compared to the other system. When carrying out a nursing research, the main aim of the scholar is to get findings surrounding nursing (Olin, 2011). This is why it is important to use an approach that focuses on the research’s interest. Application of the nursing framework will bring out better results since it merely focuses on nursing. As a researcher, it is important to focus on one thing to realize the best results. Although this module is highly rated that the other one, both of them are of great help when it comes to research.

Apart from investigating the nursing field, the scholars would also want to know about health in general. This is where interdisciplinary theoretical framework comes in handy. Since the other ones main agenda is nursing, this one focuses on health matters in general. A scholar will not manage to understand the problems faced by the patients when they only use the nursing module. This module will help highlight issues such as high cost of healthcare and poor health facilities;(Taylor, 2006). When research is done in the hospital, both the nurses and the patients are valuable tools for study. While the nurses need to address their queries, the patients too have to voice out their issues. This proves that although the two frameworks might come handy in different situations, both of them remain important. The decision to ground a nursing research to the nursing theoretical framework will depend on with the objectives of the scholar. If a scholar just intends to study nursing, then they should do that, but if they plan to research about health in general, then they have to use both modules.

Importance of Research in Nursing

Whenever academics are dealing with studies grounded in nursing theory, they have to confirm the theory before coming out with their conclusions;(Thompson, 2014). For example, the article by Sheldon and Ellington used for this paper has a theory highlighting the response of nurses to patients in relation to their well-being and satisfaction. The theory argues out that a good response will ensure that the patients remain satisfied with the care and also respond positively to the treatments provided by the nurses (Sheldon ; Ellington, 2008). In this case, the researcher validated the nursing theory in the research by using cognitive interviews. The scholar used five nurses from different American hospitals as a sample size. The five nurses were supposed to answer questions in relation to patient’s communication. After collecting the responses from the nurses, it was important to interpret the statistics using the Crick and Dodge model for processing social evidence. Through these two methods, the scholars manage to get enough information and make a reliable conclusion based on the nursing theory.

In conclusion, both the nursing theoretical framework and interdisciplinary theoretical framework approaches are used in nursing studies. However, when dealing with nursing issues exclusively, it is important to apply the use of nursing framework alone. Although one is more reliable than the other one, both of them remain imperative in research. Incase a scholar decides to use the nursing theories in research, they will have to prove this by carrying out data collection. For example, by using cognitive interviews, the scholars will manage to prove the theory before handing out their findings.

 References

Olin, J. (2011). 7 Nursing Theories To Practice By. Notes From the Nurses Station, 4-6.

Taylor, B. J. (2006). Research in Nursing and Health Care: Evidence for Practice. New York: Cengage Learning Australia.

Thompson, C. J. (2014). Theoretical Frameworks for Nursing Research, Practice, and Education. Theoretical Frameworks for Nursing Research, Practice, and Education, 23-25.

Sheldon, L. & Ellington, L. (2008). Application of a model of social information processing to nursing theory: how nurses respond to patients. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 64(4), 388- 398.