Concept analysis

Concept Analysis According to Fawcett (2005), concepts are phrases of words that summarize observations, ideas and experiences. They are tools that offer mental pictures that can enable understanding and antecedents communication of a phenomenon. The process of concept analysis involves the development of previously defined concepts (Meleis, 2007). In nursing theory development, Townsend and Scanlany (2001) acknowledge that the identification of antecedents and consequences is the most important step of concept analysis.
The identification of consequences and antecedents is significant because they offer additional clarity on the concept of interest. According to McEwin and Wills (2014), antecedents are the happenings that took place before the manifestation of the idea while the consequences are the effects of the concept. For instance, for holism to take place, there has to exist a real nurse-patient relationship founded on trust and understanding. The nurse also requires expertise, outstanding communication skills and knowledge. Additionally, a precursor to the concept of risk is the cognitive capability to differentiate between options. The aptitude for cognitive reasoning is an antecedent to the risk concept (Fawcett, 2005). If an individual cannot use cognitive reasoning, he or she is not capable of making a recognition or discernment about the probable harm to him or herself and other people. For instance, young children cannot interpret and analyze information in their surrounding that would be harmful to them or would put them in risk; therefore, they cannot know that touching an iron box after use will burn them. It is an adult in this case who has cognitive thinking to understand that the kid is in danger. In this case, cognitive reasoning is an antecedent to the concept of risk (McEwin & Wills, 2014).
References
Fawcett, J. (2012). Contemporary nursing knowledge (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis.
McEwen, M., & Wills, E. (2014). Theoretical basis for nursing (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Meleis, A. I. (2007). Our discipline and its structure. In M. Zuccarini & H. Kogut (Eds.), Theoretical nursing (4th ed., pp. 451–485). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.
Townsend, L., & Scanlany, J. (2001). Self-efficacy related to student nurses in the clinical setting: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 8(1). doi: 10. 2202/1548-923X. 2223 Permalink to article