1 Theory of Goal Attainment

Imogene King s Theory of Goal Attainment Whittney P. Kite East Tennessee State University

2 Theory of Goal Attainment In 1923, the world was fortunate for the birth of Imogene King. Imogene King is well known in the nursing world for "Kings Conceptual Framework". A brief history on how Ms. King became to be drawn in with the nursing occupation includes the following degrees and involvement. Ms. King has a very extensive education background that would impress anyone she came into contact with. After receiving her diploma from St. Johns Hospital of Nursing in 1945, Imogene King studied at St. Louis University in 1948, focusing on her Bachelors of Science in Nursing. Following the completion of her bachelor's degree she then went straight back to concentrate on receiving her Master's of Science in Nursing, again at St. Louis University, and completed this in 1957. While most are very satisfied with a Masters Degree, Imogene King went on to finish her doctorate from a Teacher's college which was Columbia University and was completed in 1961. Finally, in 1980 Imogene completed her Honorary Ph. D from Southern Illinois University. Aside from being a professor in the graduate program at Loyola University, located in Chicago, Imogene also published three successful books. Her first book was actually developed in the 1960's but not published until 1971. This book was called Toward a Theory for Nursing: General Concepts of Human Behavior . Her second book, which was published in 1981 was titled Theory for Nursing: Systems, Concepts, Process . Finally, in 1986, Imogene released her third book Curriculum and Instruction in Nursing: Concepts and Process (Seiloff, 2006). King s leadership in nursing the past 60-plus years has been recognized not only by her publications, but also in her active participation as an elected officer and member of committees in the American Nurses Association at the regional, state, and national level (Tribute to Theorists, 2007). Imogene King is known as a "mid range theorist". A Middle-range theorist is narrower in their scope than grand nursing theorist. They also offer as an effective liaison between grand nursing theories and basic nursing practice. A middle range theorist will present concepts and propositions at a lower level of abstraction. Imogene's goal was to provide a comprehensive view of the three dynamic interacting systems that form the environment that influence individual s growth, development, work,

3 Theory of Goal Attainment and death." It proposes that nursing is defined by three interacting systems. Those three interacting systems included:

1. Personal systems refer to the individual. The concepts within the personal system and fundamental in understanding human beings are perception, self, body image, growth and development, time, and space (King, 1981). 2. Interpersonal systems involve individuals interacting with one another. The concepts associated with interpersonal systems are interaction, transaction, communication, role and stress. 3. Social systems are groups of people within a community or society that share common goals, interests, and values. Social systems provide a framework for social interaction and relationships, and establish rules of behavior and courses of action (King, 1971).

Imogene King began to develop her conceptual frame work and the theory of goal attainment at a time when nurses were striving to become professional practitioners and scientists. She deliberately developed a conceptual frame of reference for nursing as a precursor to a theory that explicates the "why of nursing actions. It stated that the specific motivation to develop her conceptual framework was the need to select essential content for a new master's degree program in nursing (King ,1988).Imogene's motivation for constructing and creating this theory was based in part on a General System Theory which had first been proposed in 1956, and was redefined in 1968 by Von Bertalanffy. Imogene's basic assumptions of this theory was that nursing should be focused on the care of human beings, along with a goal of the health of individuals and groups that human beings are open systems, interacting with their environment . The conceptual framework of the interpersonal system had the greatest influence on the development of this theory. Imogene's major thesis' of the Conceptual Framework was " Each human being perceives the world as a total person in making transactions with individuals and their

4 Theory of Goal Attainment environment along with Transaction represents a life situation in which perceiver & thing perceived are encountered and in which person enters the situation as an active participant and each is changed in the process of these experiences (Nursing Theory, 2011). Imogene King did have good reasons for her new approach. One of those reasons includes the fact that much of her initial research was from a qualitative perspective; she questioned theories that reduced nursing down to two variables, given the complexities and variety in nursing.

Today, nursing has greatly benefited to Imogene King s theory of goal attainment. King is universally recognized as a pioneer of nursing theory development. Her interacting conceptual system for nursing and her theory of goal attainment have been included in every major nursing theory text, are taught to thousands of nursing students, form the basis of nursing education programs, and are implemented in a variety of service settings. Because of her model, which seeks to integrate the personal, interpersonal, and social systems that influence the patient's health, the likelihood of several performance based evaluation systems have derived from this. For instance, a local hospital system uses Press Ganey to measure and evaluate performance among the staff, the clinical care, as well as other aspects. Aside from performance evaluation, the community also benefits from Kings Theory of Goal Attainment .

If the students can t do the fundamentals, How can they use advanced knowledge?

Imogene King

We are being taught that a nurse should always follow the standards or steps that have been given to him/her by the institution. By doing this the individual will become involved with several others in the hospital or healthcare setting. This is crucial in proper communication to appropriately treat the patient at hand. Depending on the nurse s roles, she may be involved in the community as a Public Health Educator or Community Health Nurse. If this is the case, she will need to be a liaison for the

5 Theory of Goal Attainment communication, treatment, and effectiveness of the patient s health and recovery. This, in my opinion goes hand in hand with Healthy People 2020 and fits perfects into the Intrapersonal Stage of Imogene King s interacting systems. Looking at the Social Systems Stage, I relate Kings theory to current community education classes such as diabetes control, sex education, birthing classes, etc. . Social systems provide a framework for social interaction and relationships, and establish rules of behavior and courses of action (King, 1971). Each of the classes mentioned above do just what King proposed. Her systems are a great example of primary prevention. Imogene King has made a tremendous impact on the healthcare world that is being carried out every day across in world.

6 Theory of Goal Attainment References

Barnum, Barbara (1998). Nursing Theory: Analysis, Application, Evaluation. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursing_theory

King, I.M. (1971). Toward a theory for Nursing: General Concepts of Human Behavior. New York: Wiley. Retrieved from: http://imogeneking.blogspot.com/

King, I. M. (1988). The nurse theorists: Portraits of excellence Imogene King [Videotape and CD]. Athens, OH: Fuld Institute for Technology in Nursing Education. Retrieved from http://www.virtualcurriculum.com/N3225/Fawcett_King.pdf

Nursing Theories. ( 2011,Janurary). Imogene King's Theory of Goal Attainment. Retrieved from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/goal_attainment_theory.html Seiloff, C. (2006). Interacting systems framework and middle range theory of goal attainment. In A.M. Tomey & M. R. Alligood (Eds.), Nursing theorists and their work (pp.297-317). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier. Retrieved from: http://prism.troy.edu/~ducksu/ImogeneKing.pdf

Tribute to the Theorists: Imogene M. King Over the Years. (2007). Nurs Sci Q July 2007 20: 198, doi:10.1177/0894318407303097, from EBSCHO Host Database.