My Personal Philosophy and The Nursing Metaparadigm

My Personal Philosophy and The Nursing MetaparadigmPurpose of this Paper

  1. One purpose of writing this paper is for you to begin to demonstrate your understanding how the two main approaches to nursing research, broadly categorized as qualitative and quantitative approaches, are said to arise from differing ways of viewing the world. You need to learn that these differing views are founded in two branching philosophies of knowledge and can constrain how nursing theory and knowledge are developed. You are also required to identify your current stance on the appropriateness of quantitative vs. qualitative research for nursing so that you can situate your current understanding as you start your nursing education.
  2. A second purpose is for you demonstrate that you understand the way in which the whole of nursing is situated within an overarching metaparadigm that contains four broad concepts. These concepts and the metaparadigm allow for multiple areas of practice, theories, research approaches, and so forth within nursing, which begins to help you understand the vastness and the diversity that comprises the nursing profession.
  3. A third purpose is for you to articulate your current assumptions, values, and beliefs in relation to nursing’s metaparadigm (taken together these ideas constitute your personal philosophy for nursing at this stage in your career). The goals for this purpose are to a) allow you to demonstrate your familiarity with the four concepts within nursing’s metaparadigm and b) encourage you to identify where you stand at this point in time of your nursing education/career so you begin your program with awareness and can, therefore, move forward in your education from an intentional perspective of learning and being open.
  • Another purpose is for you to begin to link your personal philosophy to the entry-to-practice competencies from the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). The goals of this purpose are to a) allow you to become familiar with the requirements you must meet when you graduate from this program and b) encourage you to think about if/how you might need to change your personal philosophy now that you are a nursing student. Note: in linking your personal philosophy to two entry-to-practice competencies from the CNO (2019). The only evidence earlier in the paper that you could have provided about your beginning personal philosophy was in the section where you were to identify your values, beliefs, and assumptions for each of the four concepts in the nursing metaparadigm. Therefore, when linking your personal philosophy to the competencies you needed to clearly show how what you had written as your personal philosophy was a fit for the competencies, including naming the concept in which you had described a value etc. that fit for the competency, and using your language from that concept.
  1. You must provide a # for a competency and/give the CNO reference (with year and p. #).

Please follow all writing the content from the instructor

  • First, you will identify and briefly describe the two branching philosophies of knowledge in nursing and how each underpins qualitative or qualitative research. You will also document your personal stance on qualitative vs. quantitative research in nursing, i.e., you are in favour of one approach over the other or you value both approaches, and discuss your rationale for that stance. You will need to use chapter 3 from the textbook for the discussion about the philosophies, but you will not use any references to support your personal stance. Note: in class the professor talked about realism and relativism as ontologies, so how people might view the world. Each ontology is associated with a broad research approach to develop knowledge (epistemology). Realism is about how a material world exists and our senses provide an imperfect understanding of that world – language on p. 29 of course textbook should have been used for the first part of this section, so terms to use included deductive, empiricist, mechanistic, and quantitative. Relativism is about individual perception, how there is no absolute truth, and everything is relative/subjective – so terms to be used from p. 29 of course textbook included inductive, interpretive, holistic, and qualitative.
  • When discussing your own preferences for the usefulness of qualitative/quantitative research approaches in nursing then your rationale would have been fully clear if you had identified the ontology with which you fit, linked to the associated epistemology (rationalism/empiricism), and then linked to the appropriate broad research approach (qualitative/quantitative). Note that within each of these research approaches there are multiple research methods (designs), so qualitative/quantitative are not ‘research methods’ as such.
  • Then, you will identify and very briefly discuss the four concepts within the nursing metaparadigm: Nursing, Person/Human Beings, Health, and Environment. You will need to obtain a scholarly article to support your discussion of the metaparadigm and you must use CINAHL to conduct your search. You also will need to use at least 1 appropriate chapter from the textbook for this section. Note: (There is only a single nursing metaparadigm that you were to discuss. Within that metaparadigm there were four concepts: person, health, nursing, and environment. You were to briefly discuss those four concepts and use chapter 1 (Alligood as author) plus the article that I have provided. Here is the link https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7tb3224c You were not to discuss material in the article beyond using it to support your brief description of each concept. You were not to use subheadings.
  • You were then to start a new section and use subheadings for each of these four concepts as you wrote about your own values, beliefs, assumptions, etc. within each concept. You were not to use any references for this section. This section in total would be your personal philosophy and needed to be in some depth/breadth so around ½ page for each concept.
  • The next step is for you to articulate your own personal philosophy through identifying your own values, beliefs, and assumptions for each of the four concepts in the nursing metaparadigm. You will briefly introduce the section and then use a subheading for each theme. You will not use any references to support your own values, beliefs, and assumptions.
  • Finally, you will begin to describe the link between aspects of your personal philosophy and the entry-to-practice competencies from CNO (CNO, 2019b in course outline). You will choose 1 competency from each of only 2 of the following 6 roles: Clinician, Professional, Communicator, Leader, Advocate, and Scholar; you will not use the remaining three roles.

Identify each competency by both its number in the document and the associated role, e.g., Clinician 1.21 (ref. to document). In this paper, unlike in most papers, using a direct quote is acceptable but it must be in addition to providing the role and number. For each identified competency discuss 1 way in which your personal philosophy is a good fit. Make sure that what you describe as a fit has already been written about in the personal philosophy section – if you have not included the idea already then you cannot use it in this section. You will need to use the appropriate CNO document when you identify the competencies, but no other references are to be used in this section.

Other Specific Requirements

  • It is expected that you search for and use a reference that is not in the course reference list. The new reference must be an article (so not a book, professional, organization, website, etc.), current (preferably not older than a 2014 publication date, must be within the past 7 years), and relevant to the nursing metaparadigm. This scholarly article must also include a nurse as an author (not necessarily the first author) and be at least three pages of text in length (so not including references, even on the third page).

You must use your course text (see the course outline) and only chapters 1 and/or 3 as appropriate when references are required from the course textbook. Do not use another text. You will get to read the e-book of the textbook used in this course here online. Nursing Theorists and their work  9th edition https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=l7stDwAAQBAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1

  • You must use the correct format when you provide appropriate references in text, i.e., the author(s), year, and page number(s).
  • The full reference for each chapter you use must also be in the reference list – see the APA feedback template for an example of how to reference a chapter in an edited book and make sure you follow the correct format; do not only provide a reference to the whole book.
  • Do not use direct quotes from your textbook. You need to put the answers into your own words to show that you understand, rather than that you can simply copy and paste.

 

  • Critical analysis is essential. However, how you write is as important as what you write. Your paper should be 4-5 typed pages (excluding cover sheet and references), so you will have a maximum of 5 pages in the body of your paper.
  • All pages should be double-spaced.
  • The references within this course are in APA 7th Edition
  • You must follow APA format, including a cover page and use of headings and subheadings.
  • You are definitely meant to use “I” when following APA if it makes sense in the context of your writing. For this paper, you should be using the first-person type narrative when writing about your own values etc.
  • Coherence, flow, and clarity are important.
  • Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are important.
  • Please ensure you use headings appropriately. The second main heading for this paper might be labelled as My Personal Philosophy (centred, bolded, upper- and lower-case). Before moving into the first subheading, e.g., Health (at left, bold, upper- and lower-case), make sure you provide a brief statement about what you will do in this part. For example:

In this section, I will identify my own values and assumptions about the four concepts within nursing’s metaparadigm: nursing, person/human beings, health, and environment.  I ….

  • If you lay out your paper with headings/subheadings then it is easier for me to follow and it helps keep you on track
  • Headings and subheadings are required in this paper – so I am not simply suggesting that you use them.
  • Think about what headings are supposed to do – they guide the reader to main points in a paper and then to sub-points of a main point. So, the main point heading is typically the centred one (uses Upper and Lowercase, also in bolded) and the sub-point heading is at the left of the page (also uses Upper and Lowercase and in bold). It is possible to go to even more of a sub-point (uses Uppercase and Lower Case, flush left, bolded and italicized.
  • You need to ensure you have sufficient depth/breadth in each area, but you also do not have a lot of space overall, which is appropriate because you are early in your program and learning how to write a scholarly paper within Nursing.
  • I suggest that you do not go beyond the suggested maximum length for any section or you are likely to have not provided sufficient work in another area.
  • It will take you space to write a well-considered document with sufficient evidence where appropriate. Therefore, I expect papers to be at least 4 pages in length – students who submit a paper that is less than 4 pages long are unlikely to demonstrate the type of critical analysis that will earn them at least a good grade.
  • End your paper with a conclusion section. Do not start the section with words such as ‘In summary’ or ‘In conclusion’ – redundant because section is called ‘Conclusion’ (heading).
  • A conclusion section is more than just a summary – it is a way of pulling together the main ideas that you have presented in the paper and making overall comments.
  • Do not introduce any new ideas or new references.
  • The conclusion should be no more than ½ of a page in length, in a single paragraph.
  • Be very careful to pay attention to the number, type, and quality of resources you use in each of the main parts of the paper.
  • You must use the individual chapter from the course textbook and not just reference the whole textbook. Referencing the whole textbook will contribute to a lower earned grade.

BREAKDOWN AT A GLANCE

  1. 1. Introduction-~1/4 to ½ page references is not expected
  • Clear indication of what is to be done in the paper
  1. 2. Personal stance on qualitative vs quantitative research in nursing~1/2 to 3/4page begin with rationale for each approach
  • Clearly document own personal stance i.e. in favor of one research approach over the other.
  • Clearly identify own rationale for personal stance i.e. Relativism/empiricism/qualitative; Realism/quantitative
  • Use page 29 in chapter 3 of the textbook at start of section identifying and describing the 2 branching philosophies of knowledge
  • I expect high level of critical reflection about why in favor of one research approach over the other, or why value both
  1. Nursing Metaparadigm ~1/2 to ¾ page; No Subheading. Single metaparadigm x 4 concepts
  • Clear description of the nursing metaparadigm (NM) and its 4 constituent concepts
  • Use I relevant, current scholarly article to assist in discussing the NM

(which I already provided the link https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7tb3224c

  • Use chapter 1 of the book to assist in discussing the NM
  1. Personal Philosophy (<2 pages; ~1/2 page for each of the 4 concepts in the NM-Use subheadings; NO references; personal philosophy is developed through reflecting on these concepts.
  • Be clear to identify own values beliefs, and assumptions for each of Nursing, Person/Human Beings, Health, and Environment.
  • You will need to use language to show your values etc. example, I believe…….
  • Need to describe what each concept means to you
  1. Beginning link between personal philosophy and competencies from CNO document ~ ½ Page
  • I want you to pleas use the correct document, use this link to retrieve the document

College of Nurses of Ontario. (2019). Entry-to-practice competencies for registered nurses. Toronto, ON: Author. Retrieved from cno.org/globalassets/docs/reg/41037-entry-to-practice-competencies-2020.pdf        [takes effect September 2020]

  • Clearly identify 1 competency in each of 2/6 roles (# & reference) refer to the writing content
  • Please show high level of critical reflection about how own personal philosophy (from part 4 of paper above) fits with the 2 competencies

I have chosen Professional. 2.2 CNO (2019, pp.5-6) and Professional. 2.3 CNO (2019, pp.5-6)                                   

  1. Conclusion (1/4 to ½ page)
  • Must pull together main ideas in coherent, succinct, overall comments (not just summary of what was done)
  • Please do not introduce any new ideas or new references
  • About references It is NOT okay in this paper to have more than 4 The specific number you need is 4: the CNO document, the 2 textbook chapters (I provided link to e-book), + 1 scholarly article (I provided the link).