Artikel
Mapping the landscape of theoretical nursing research in the German-speaking area of Europe: a focused mapping review and synthesis
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Autoren
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Jasmin Eppel-Meichlinger
- Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Department of General Health Studies, Division Nursing Science with focus on Person-centred Care Research, Österreich
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Ana Cartaxo
- Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Department of General Health Studies, Division Nursing Science with focus on Person-centred Care Research, Österreich
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Theresa Clement
- Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Department of General Health Studies, Division Nursing Science with focus on Person-centred Care Research, Österreich
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Julian Hirt
- Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Nursing Science, Department of Health, Schweiz; University of Basel, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Schweiz
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Martin Wallner
- Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Department of General Health Studies, Division Nursing Science with focus on Person-centred Care Research, Österreich; University of Vienna, Department of Nursing Science, Vienna, Österreich
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Hanna Mayer
- Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Department of General Health Studies, Division Nursing Science with focus on Person-centred Care Research, Österreich
| Veröffentlicht: | 21. März 2023 |
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Gliederung
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Background/research question: Although nursing has made significant progress in establishing as an academic discipline in the German-speaking area, there is an ongoing discussion in the scientific community about the lack of theory building. Theoretical outlines and assumptions are important to develop, guide, and evaluate nursing practice, research, and education. To provide an overview of the theoretical nursing research landscape in the European German-speaking countries, we aimed at mapping the theoretical publication output.
Methods: We conducted a focused mapping review and synthesis. In the Web of Science Core Collection, we selected all articles published between 2016 and 2021 in international and national nursing journals in German or English language and with a contribution of at least one author affiliated with an institution in the German-speaking area of Europe. We included original research articles aiming to develop, analyse, or expand a theory, a concept, or a theoretical model. All titles, abstracts, and full texts were independently screened by two reviewers. Data extraction was performed using a standardized extraction sheet. We tabulated publication-related characteristics as well as theoretical and content-related criteria and narratively summarized the included studies according to the type of theoretical contribution by the study authors.
Results: The proportion of publications with a theory-related aim in the selected sample is low (32 out of 1,419, 2%). Efforts of theory-building are heterogeneous and without a recognizable pattern. Most theoretical research followed an inductive and theory-building approach and mainly referred to Grounded Theory as methodology and concept analysis as methods. Theoretical results were mainly descriptive, situation-specific, and presented as models. Illness experience and self-management were the most prevalent among the addressed phenomena.
Conclusion: More efforts should be made on how to further develop existing theories as well as to develop new theories. Therefore, nursing researchers should be properly educated in theorizing. Nursing researchers and lecturers have a crucial role to defy the demands of the current research mainstream and provide appropriate structures to learn and to continually practice theoretical thinking and how to theorize.
Competing interests: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
