A Proposed Middle-Range Theory of Nursing in Hypertension Care

Table 2

A schematic description of how the nurse could make use of the proposed theory in hypertension care. All counselling sessions with patients need not follow the same order, and one concept is not used just at one particular time; for example, communication and professional knowledge are used throughout the consultation. The treatment mentioned here is lifestyle change.

Process of the consultation	Concepts related to the meeting	Concepts related to the patient	Concepts related to the nurse
Creating rapport with the patient	Communication
Who is this person?		Personality and traits	Counselling skills
Assessing the patient’s individual risk profile and telling the patient the result	Assessment of the patient’s self-care deficits		Professional knowledge
What has the patient to say?		Attitudes and beliefs regarding health and sickness; Sense of coherence; Perceived vulnerability; Hardiness
The patient has questions		Autonomy	Health education
Discussion of pros and cons of lifestyle change where the patient reaches a decision whether to make a change or not	Shared decision-making and concordance	Locus of control	Patient advocacy; Theories and models for behavioural change
The patient is willing	Development of self-care agencies using coping strategies	Self-efficacy; Social support and network	Empowerment; Support
Follow-up	Adherence to changed lifestyle through performed self-care