GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF NURSING,

KOTA (RAJASTHAN)

AN ASSIGNMENT
ON
‘ABDELLAH’S MODEL’

SUBMITTED TO: MR.DINESH SHARMA

LECTURER
SUBMITTED BY: MR.JITENDRA SINGH
MSc NURSING PREVIOUS
YEAR
ABDELLAH’S TYPOLOGY OF TWENTY ONE

INTRODUCTION

NURSING THEORY is an organised and systematic articulation of a

set of statements related to questions in the disciple of nursing.
A nursing theory is a setoff concepts, definitions, relationships, and
assumptions or propositions derived from nursing models or from
other disciples and a project a purposive, systematic view of
phenomena by designing specific inter relationships among concepts
for the purposes of describing, explaining, predicting, and or
prescribing.
Theories are set of interrelated concept that gives a systematic view of
a phenomenon that is predictive and explanatory. Theories are
composed of concepts, definitions, models, propositions and are based
on assumptions.

FAYE GLENN ABDELLAH’S THEORY

Faye Glenn Abdellah (1919) was born in New York City.

A 1942 magna cum Laude graduate of firkin memorial Hospital
school of Nursing (Now Ann may school of Nursing).She
received her BS,MA and EDV from Teacher’s college at
Columbia University she completed her doctoral work in 1955.
Abdellah was appointed chief Nurse Officer of the USPHS in
1970 and served in that position for 17 years. Abdellah represented
the interests of health professionals in all categories in the Public
Health Services. She was advisor on matters related to nursing. Long
term care policy, mental retardation, the developmentally disabled,
home health services, aging, hospice & AIDS.
Because her efforts were directed toward improvement of the quality
of health care for all Americans, she supervised the activities in both
health & non health agencies.
In 1988 & 1989 Abdellah received the surgeon general medallion,
which was presented by farmer surgeon general Koop in recognition
of contributions chief nurse officer us public health service & for
exemplary service to the surgeon general.

EVOLUTION OF THEORY

Abdellah realized that for nursing to gain full professional status &
autonomy, a strong knowledge base was imperative. Nursing also
needed to move away from the control on medicine & toward a
philosophy of comprehensive patient- centred care.
He gave 21 nursing problems to teach and evaluate students. The
typology of 21 nursing problems first appeared in the 1960 edition of
patient- centred approach impact on the profession & on the
development of nursing theories.
The patient or family presents with nursing problem that the nurse
helps them address through her professional function. The nurse
address 21 problem categories
The Nursing process is the method nurses use to establish and focus
on a nursing diagnosis. The overall goal is a client’s fullest possible
functioning. Individualized patient care is important for nursing. Both
patients and nurses should be aware of the wholeness of clients and
the need for continuing of care from before hospitalization to
afterwards.
Abdellah was influenced by the desire to promote client centred
comprehensive nursing care and described nursing as `service to
individual and families and therefore to society’. Nursing is based
on an art and science that moulds their attitudes, intellectual,
competencies and technical skills of individual into the desire and
ability to help people sick or well. Cope with their health needs
Abdellah`s theory was derived from the following premises of
comprehensive nursing care. As s comprehensive service, nursing
includes the following:

 Recognising the nursing problem of the patient

 Deciding the appropriate courses of action to talk in terms of
relevant nursing principles.
 Providing continuous care to relieve pain and discomfort and
providing immediate security for the difficult time
 Adjusting the total nursing care plan to meet the patient’s
individual needs.
 Helping the individual to become more self directing in
attaining or maintaining a healthy state of mind and body.
 Instructing nursing personnel and family to help the individual
do for himself that which he can within his limitations.
 Helping individual to his limitations and emotional problems.
 ROLE OF SOCIAL HYGIENE AND
PROBLEM IN PHYSICAL
ILLNESS COMFORT

ACTIVITY AND
REST
COMMUNICATION

C
RESOURSE TO SAFETY
RESOLVE
PROBLEM

VITAMIN
BODY
ACCEPTANCE
MECHANICS

AWARENESS OXYGENATION
OF SELF
21 NURSING
PROBLEMS

THERAPEUTIC NUTRITION
ENVIRONMENT

SPIRITUALITY ELIMINATION

IPR FLUID AND

ELECTROLYTE

EMOTION ILLNESS RESPONSE TO

INTERRELATION
DISEASE
SHIP
 REGULATORY
FEELING AND
BODY
REACTIONS SENSORY MECHANICS
FUNCTION

CONCEPTS USED BY ABDELLAH

1) NURSING:

Abdellah defined nursing as ‘service to individual ‘. It is based

upon art and science which mould the attitudes, intellectual,
competencies and technical skills of the individual nurse into the
desire and ability to help people sick or well cope with their
health needs and may be carried out under general or specific
medical direction.
Abdellah was promoting the image of the nurse who was not
only kind and caring, but also competent and technically well
prepared to provide services to the patient.

2) NURSING PROBLEM:
The client’s health needs can be viewed as problems. The
nursing problem presented by the patient’s is the condition faced
by the patient or family which the nurse can assist him or them
to meet through the performance of her professional functions.

The problem can be either overt or covert nursing problem.

 An overt nursing problem is an apparent condition faced
by the nurse can assist him or her to meet through the
performance of her professional functions.
 The covert nursing problem is a concealed or hidden
condition faced by the patient or family which the nurse
can assist him or them to meet through the performance of
her professional functions
 Covert problems can be emotional, sociological, and
interpersonal in nature.
 They are often missed or perceived incorrectly
 This identification and classification of problems was
called the ‘typology of 21 nursing problems as listed
below:
a) To maintain good hygiene and physical comfort.
b) To promote optimal activity , exercise, rest, sleep
c) To promote safety through prevention of accident,
injury or other trauma and through the prevention of
spread of infection.
d) To maintain good body mechanics and prevent and
correct deformities.
e) To facilitate the maintenance of a supply of oxygen
to all body cells.
f) To facilitate the maintenance of nutrition to all body
cells.
g) To facilitate the maintenance of fluid and electrolytes
balance.
 h) To recognise the physiological response of the body
to disease conditions pathological, physiological and
compensatory.
i) To facilitate the maintenance of regulatory
mechanisms and functions.
j) To facilitate the maintenance of effective verbal and
non verbal communication
k) To facilitate awareness of self as an individual with
varying physical, emotional and developmental
needs
l) To facilitate progress towards achievement of
personal spiritual goals.
m)To facilitate the maintenance of sensory functions.
n) To identify and accept positive and negative
expressions, feelings and sanctions.
o) To identify and accept interrelatedness of emotions
and organic illness.
p) To promote the development of productive
interpersonal relationship
q) To create and/or maintain a therapeutic environment
r) To accept the optimum possible goals in the light of
limitations, physical, emotional and developmental
needs.
s) To use community resources as an aid in resolving
problems arising from illness.
t) To understand the role of social problems as
influencing factors in the cause of illness.
Abdellah, typology was divided into three areas:
1) The physical, sociological and emotional needs of the
patients.
 2) The type’s interpersonal relationships between of the nurse
and the patients.
3) The common elements of patient care.

These requirements can be met by the problem solving

pertinent data formulating hypothesis, testing hypothesis,
through the collections of data and revising hypothesis when
necessary on the basis of conclusion obtained from the data.

PARADIGM OF ABDELLAH’S TYPOLOGY

Abdellah doest clearly specify each of the four major

concepts; human being, health, environment or society and
nursing.

1) HEALTH:
It is defined implicitly as a state when the individual has no
unmet needs and no anticipated or actual impairments.
Achieving of health is the purpose of nursing services.
Although Abdellah doesn’t give a definition of health, ‘she
speaks of total health’ needs and `a healthy state of mind and
body’ in her description of nursing as a comprehensive nursing
service.

2) HUMAN BEING:

She describes people as having physical, emotional and

sociological needs.
These needs may be overt, consisting largely physical needs, or
covert such as emotional and social needs
 The typology and nursing problem is said to evolve from the
recognition of a need for patient centred approach to nursing.
People are helped by the identification and alleviation of
problems they are experiencing.

3) ENVIRONMENT:

The environment is the least discussed concept in her model.

Nursing problem number 17 from the typology is to `create and
or maintain a therapeutic environment.
This suggests that patient interest and responds to their
environment.

4) NURSING:

Nursing is a helping profession. Nursing cares is doing

something to or for the person with goal meeting needs,
increasing or restoring self helping ability or service that is
based on an art and science and aims to help people sick or
well, cope with these health needs.

NURSING PROCESS AND ABDELLAH MODEL

The use of this scientific base enables the nurse to understand
the reason for her activities. They are used in the nursing
process primarily to direct the nurse indirectly to the client’s
benefits.

i. ASSESMENT PHASE:
a. Each of the 21 identified 21 nursing data is collected.
 b. The overt or covert nature of the problems
necessitates a direct or indirect approach
respectively.
c. E.g. the overt problem of the nutritional status can be
assessed by direct measures of weight, food intake
and body size.
d. Whereas the covert problem of maintaining a
therapeutic environment requires more in direct
approach to collect data.

ii. NURSING DIAGNOSIS:

Is the result of data collection would determine the
clients specific overt or covert problems.

iii. PLANNING PHASE:

Many of the nursing problems or statement can be
considered as goal either for nurses or the client.

iv. IMPLEMENTATION:
Nurse using the goal as the framework, a plan is developed
and appropriate nursing intervention are determined.

v. EVALUATION:
The plan is evaluated in terms of client’s progress towards
the achievement of the goals.

ABDELLAH’S WORK AND CHARACTERISTICS

OF THEORY
 a. Theories can interrelate concepts in such a way as
to create a different way of looking at a particular
phenomenon.
Abdellah‘s theory has interrelated concepts of health,
nursing problems and problem solving. Nursing is
use of the problems related to health needs of the
people.
b. Theoretical statement places heavy emphasis on
problem solving an activity that is inherently logical
in nature.
c. Theory doesn’t provide the framework on human and
society in general. This somewhat
d. Limits the ability to generalise, although the problem
solving approach readily generalizable to client with
specific health need and specific nursing problems.
e. The result of testing such as hypothesis would
contribute to the general body of knowledge.

EVALUATION OF THE THEORY

The typology is very simple and is descriptive of nursing problems

thought to be common among patients. The concept of nursing,
nursing problems and problem solving process, are central to this
work.
The concept of person, health and environment which are associated
with the nursing paradigm today. The 21 nursing problems general
and linked neither to time or environment.
Other services professions could use the typology of 21 nursing
problems to focus on the psychosocial and emotional needs presented
by patients.
The concepts are within the domain of nursing. Ready linkage of the
concepts and the typology to reality is secondary to an inductive
approach to theory of development.
‘‘She proposes that nurse could take a leadership role in making
the public aware that quality nursing health care. The medical
treatment and nursing care is essential for the individual’’.

BIBILIOGRAPHY
 Margaret Hegge,abdellah theory.3rdapril 2014,<http://
www.nursing -theory.com

 Theories and model-abdellah’sl-theory.3rd april 2014,

,<http:// www.nightingale’s environmental theory.com