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In-depth understanding of the ontological and epistemological assumptions of nursing theories can be achieved through theory analysis. Several theory analysis criteria have been proposed for examining ontological and epistemological assumptions, but there are limited examples of actual analysis of these assumptions. This article presents an analysis of the ontological and epistemological assumptions of Dorothea Orem's selfcare theory and evaluates its significance for nursing practice and research.
Keywords: Dorothea Orem's self-care theory; foundational analysis; ontological and epistemological theory analysis; theory evaluation; nursing research and practice
Nursing theories claim to offer guidance for nursing practice and to share unique perspectives about different nursing phenomena. These perspectives are based on distinct philosophical underpinnings which give theorists' views about human-universal health processes (Kim & Kollak, 2006) and are primarily composed of ontological and epistemological assumptions (Fawcett, 1993). Ontology and epistemology are Greek words within the realm of philosophy. They share an interdependent relationship because both help in the logical generation of knowledge (Reber, 1995).
An ontology is a "philosophical belief system about the nature of social reality" (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2010, p. 4). In nursing, it refers to claims about the kind and nature of nursing, health, illness, and the structure of human beings. It seeks to answer what exists in the world (Bruce, Rietze, & Lim, 2014; Rawnsley, 1997; Schuh & Barab, 2008). An epistemology is a belief system of looking at the world and making sense of it. It involves knowledge; exemplifies a certain understanding of what that knowledge entails (Bruce et al., 2014; Crotty, 1998); and examines the "origins, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge" (Reber, 1995, p. 256). Epistemology provides a philosophical basis for deciding what are the probable kinds of nursing knowledge and how we ensure they are adequate and reasonable (Bruce et al., 2014; Maynard, 1994). "Ontological assumptions are concerned with what constitutes reality, and epistemological assumptions are concerned with how knowledge can be generated, learned, and communicated" (Scotland, 2012, p. 9). In short, ontology concerns itself with what is true, and epistemology comprises different methods of unraveling that truth. The strong linkage of ontology and epistemology in nursing knowledge greatly influences the way nurses investigate different nursing phenomena and practice nursing (Arslanian-Engoren, Hicks, Whall, & Algase, 2005).
Understanding the ontological...