Dr. Meleis’ Transitions Theory Assignment

Afaf Ibrahim Meleis Afaf

Ibrahim Meleis was an Egyptian-American nursing educator and scientist. The main focus of her scholarship was global health, international and immigrant health, women’s health and theoretical development of the nursing discipline. The main focus of her teaching is on the structure and organization of nursing knowledge, international nursing and transitions and health. She defined nursing as being concerned with experiences and process of human beings who are undergoing transitions. Therefore her definition of nursing is the facilitation of transitions in order to enhance the sense of well-being. Nursing theories are still used today as they effectively describe, predict and explain the nursing phenomena as it is today. They give a foundation to the practice of nursing, help in the generation of further knowledge and give an indication of the direction nursing should take in the future. They help in making decisions on what is know and what one needs to know. They are also used to enable nurses to know why they are doing what they are doing ( Habel, 2010). Classification of nursing theories Nursing theories are classified into there broad categories. These theories are grand theories, middle-range theories and situation specific theories. Grand nursing theories are very broad in scope and present general propositions and concepts in the nursing discipline. The theories at this level give both a reflection and provide insights that are useful are