Nursing theories have been developed by a large number of leaders in the nursing field. Below is a list of major nursing theorists who have contributed to the development of professional nursing practice into what it is today.

Nursing theorists are the men and women in the nursing field who develop models of nursing. Often, they don't set out to develop a nursing theory. Instead, they simply want to help improve nursing care for their patients, and the theory develops as a result.

Nursing theories are developed to explain and describe nursing care, guide nursing practice and provide a foundation for clinical decision making. There are many different types of nursing theories.

Critical Care Nursing. Theories of Moral Development; Helping and Human Relations Theory; Nightingale’s Modern Nursing Theory; Leininger’s Culture Care Theory; Benner’s From Novice to Expert; 21 Nursing Problems by Faye Abdellah; Watson’s Philosophy and Science of Caring; Roy’s Adaptation Model of Nursing

A nursing theory, also called a nursing model, is a framework developed to guide nurses in how they care for their patients. Often, these frameworks define the practice of nursing, identify the role of the nurse, and explain the nursing process as it …

Jean Watson’s Contribution to Nursing Theory: Philosophy and Science of Caring. Jean Watson’s Philosophy and Science of Caring addresses how nurses express care to their patients. Caring is central to nursing practice, and promotes health better than a simple medical cure.

Hildegard Peplau’s Contribution to Nursing Theory: The Theory of Interpersonal Relations. Peplau’s model for nursing, which helped later nursing theorists and clinicians develop more therapeutic interventions, includes seven nursing roles, which show the dynamic character roles typical in clinical nursing.

Mary Eliza Mahoney, R.N. changed the course of American nursing forever when she became the first professionally trained African-American nurse in 1879. She was born in the free state of Massachusetts in 1845 after her parents moved from the slave state of North Carolina.

Madeleine Leininger’s theory of Transcultural Nursing, also known as Culture Care Theory, falls under both the category of a specialty, as well as a general practice area. The theory has now developed into a discipline in nursing.

The nursing model states that nursing is concerned with promoting health, preventing illness, caring for the sick, and restoring health. It focuses on health promotion, as well as the treatment of diseases. Watson believed that holistic health care is central to the practice of caring in nursing. She defines nursing as “a human science of ...