Middle Range Theory: Symptom Management Theory

Middle Range Theory Paper
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Middle Range Theory Paper
Introduction
There is a rising interest in middle-range theory application anchored on a growing number of published theories and the desire amongst researchers and nursing professionals to employ theories at the mid-range level to guide research and practice. Middle-range theories constitute a combination of related concepts emphasizing a constrained dimension of nursing realities. These theories comprise suggested relationships and concepts among the fundamental ideas demonstrated within a model. Middle-range theory development and growth happen at the practice and research intersection to guide routine scholarly inquiry and practice based on the nursing discipline. This paper evaluates the symptom management theory to understand its development, purpose, assumptions, and critical concepts and propositions. The report also includes a critique and reflection on the usefulness of the theory in nursing practice.
Development and Purpose
The capacity of a theory to inform nursing practice or care process is tailored to provide a scientific basis for nursing actions and clinical practice. It also contributes to the expansion as well as the development of credible nursing information and related clinical practice improvement as a science and profession. In this context, to guide clinical inquiry into the clinical practice and manifestations in health care delivery, nurses, investigators, and the Symptom Management Teachers Group stakeholders at the San Francisco’s California University School of Nursing designed and issued a theoretical framework illustrating the symptom management multi-dimensional processes – the Symptom Management Model (SMM) – designed based on the basis that practical clinical manifestations or symptom cluster management must take into account three components: symptom management techniques, outcomes, and symptom experience (Silva et al., 2021).
The model was revised in 2001 to include a symptom management procedure within the nursing science domains contexts: the environment, the health, the person, and the illness. In 2008, the model was updated and conceptualized as a medium-range theory referred to as the Symptom Management Theory (SMT). This theory defines a symptom as a subjective experience reflecting a person’s biopsychosocial sensations, functions, or cognitions. The model also defines the signs as abnormalities indicative of an illness. Considering the above definitions, the SMT researchers emphasized how vital the clinical manifestations were and could offer indications regarding an individual’s condition to appraise them and management techniques to lessen the manifestations. In this way, SMT’s purpose is to guide nursing practice via a systematic and subjective appraisal of signs and symptoms, planning and selecting interventions and their assessments. It is also tailored to guide clinical research by contributing specific assumptions and questions for managing symptoms (Silva et al., 2021). According to Eckerblad et al. (2020), symptom management efforts are tailored to delay or prevent the negative implications of symptoms via management, professional, and biomedical strategies.
Assumptions
As delineated in this section, the SMT’s theoretical underpinnings are anchored on the interrelationships between its parameters or, instead, variables. The first assumption is that the appraisal of symptoms must be centered on the individual’s perception of experiences and how they evaluate themselves. Secondly, the theory considers individuals who record the signs and symptoms or are at a heightened risk of developing them. Third, SMT holds that their caregiver should confirm the appraisal and interpretation of the individual’s manifestations related to difficulty expressing themselves verbally. The fourth assumption is that the patient must have the potential to control all clinical indications. Accordingly, the techniques for symptom management are extended to the immediate family, work environment, or group beyond the patient themselves. Lastly, symptom management is conceptualized as a dynamic procedure that could be improved as per the outcomes attained by the person and their links to the parameters and domains of theory [health, illness, ecology, and person] (Silva et al., 2021). Therefore, SMT application to inform clinical practice and research should be based on the assumptions mentioned above, offering the essence of the clinical manifestations and the rationales behind different symptom management strategies.
Concepts and Propositions
The three concepts of SMT include outcomes, symptom management techniques, and symptom experience. The critical outcome of interest includes symptom status (severity, distress, and frequency). These core ideas are nested in the three nursing science domains (health or illness, environment, and person) to act as a reminder of the nursing research contextual considerations. For example, a woman&...