The document outlines Virginia Henderson's human needs theory of nursing. It provides background on Henderson as a nurse educator and theorist and describes the development of her theory. The theory proposes that the purpose of nursing is to assist individuals with 14 components of basic human needs in order to help them achieve independence. The theory emphasizes meeting physiological, psychological, social, and spiritual needs through substitutive, supplementary, and complementary nursing care. It influenced the definition of nursing's role and purpose.

1. VIRGINIA HENDERSON NEED THEORY

2. Out line
Introduction
Background of the Theorist
Human need theory
Components of Henderson’s nursing theory
Major Concepts, Assumptions
Metaparadigm in Nursing
Theory critique
Summary
References
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3. Objectives
At the end of this presentation the you will be able to :-
• Describe contribution of Virginia Henderson
• Define human need theory
• Describe major concepts of the theory
• State major assumptions
• Discuss metaparadigm in nursing
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4. HUMAN NEED THEORY
VIRGINIAAVENEL HENDERSON
(November 30,1897-March 19, 1996)

5. Introduction
• Virginia Avenal Henderson was a well-known nursing educator
and a prolific author.
• Henderson is known as the modern-day mother of nursing
(O’Malley 1996).
• Her work influenced the nursing profession in America and
throughout the world.
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6. Background of the theorist
• Born in kanas city, Missouri in 1897
• A nurse educator, theorist, researcher and author of many nursing
textbooks.
Education
• Diploma from the US army school of nursing at Walter Reed
Hospital ,Washington, D.C in 1921.
• She later received a Bachelor science degree in 1932 and a
masters degree from the same school in 1934 from Columbia
university.
• Afterwards, she become a faculty member (Herrmann, 1998)
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7. Career
• Worked at the Henry street visiting nurse service for two
years after receiving her diploma.
• She initially planned to switched professions after two years
but her strong desire to help the profession averted her plan.
• From 1924 to 1929, as Instructor and educational director in
Norfolk protestant hospital, Norfolk Virginia.
• In 1939, As nurse supervisor and clinical instructor at the out
patient department of strong memorial hospital, Rochester,
New York.
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8. Career cont…
• From 1934 to 1948, 14 years as an instructor and associate
professor at Teachers College, Columbia University in New
York.
• Since 1953, Henderson was a research associate at Yale
University School of Nursing to work on critical review
nursing researcher
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9. Works of Virginia Henderson
She was the author of;
• Revision of the fifth and sixth editions of ‘’Principles and
Practice of Nursing’ Textbook of Bertha Harmer, by
incorporating her personal definition of nursing, when the
original author died (Henderson, 1991).
• The Basic principles of Nursing care
• The four volume Nursing Studies Index, The first
annotated index of nursing research published between 1900
and 1960
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10. Awards and Honors of Virginia Henderson
• Honorary doctoral degrees from thirteen universities such as
catholic university of America, Yale university, university of
western Ontario…
• In 1977 an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of
Nursing,
• An Honorary Fellow the Royal College of Nursing of the
United Kingdom
• In 1985 received the first awards of the Christiane Riemann
prize ( the most prestigious award in nursing) as her span of
influence knew no national boundaries.
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11. Cont.
• Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library was named
in her honor by the nursing society .
• Member of the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.
• In 2000, the Virginia Nurses Association recognized
Henderson as one of the 51 Pioneer Nurses in Virginia.
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12. Introduction to Human Need theory
• A grand theory developed by Virginia Henderson and was
derived from her experience of practice and education.
• Henderson’s goal was not to develop a theory of nursing, but
rather to define the unique focus of nursing practice, but
researchers come up with concepts from her work that
actually follow the metaparadigm's of nursing (Masters,2015)
• Some scholars say that Maslow's Hierarchy of needs was the
reference to her theory
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13. Human Need theory
• The theory emphasized on ;
 Basic human needs as the central focus of nursing care
and how nurses can assist in meeting those needs.
 The importance of increasing the patient’s
independence so that progress after hospitalization
would not be delayed (Henderson, 1991)
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14. Cont.
• Categorized nursing activities into 14 components, based on
human needs.
 Physiological needs (components 1-9),
 Psychological need (components10 and 14),
 Social need (components 12 and 13)
 Spiritual need (component 11)
• She describes the nurses role as that of
 Substitutive (doing for the person)
 Supplementary (a helper to the patient)
 Complementary (working with the patient)
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15. Components of Henderson’s nursing theory
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16. Major Concepts
• The theory has four major concepts related to nursing meta
paradigm
Nursing
• The nurse attending to 14 activities that assist the individual
toward independence
Health
• Not explicitly defined, individuals ability to function
independently as outlined in the 14 basic components.
Individual
• Someone who needs nursing care but did not limit nursing to
illness care.
Environment
Settings in which an individual learns unique pattern for living.
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17. Major Assumptions
• Nurses care for patients until patients can care for themselves
once again.
• Patients desire to return to health, but this assumption is not
explicitly stated.
• Nurses are willing to serve and that “nurses will devote
themselves to the patient day and night”.
• Nurses should be educated at the university level in both Arts
and Science.
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18. Metaparadigm in nursing
Person
• Someone who needs nursing care to achieve health and
independence or peaceful death.
• The sum of parts with biological, psychological and
spiritual components rather than as a type of client or
consumer.
• The person and family are viewed as a unit
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19. Cont.
Health
• Health was not explicitly defined
• Refers to an individuals ability to function independently
in relationship to the 14 basic human functioning.
Environment
• External elements that help to mold and shape the persons
life and physical change.
• Include biological, physical, behavioral component.
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20. Cont.
Nursing
• Clearly defined as
• "The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick
or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to
health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would
perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or
knowledge.
• And to do this in such a way as to help him gain independence as
rapidly as possible"
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21. Cont.
 Strength
• Widely accepted in nursing practice today and will
continue
• Researchers continue to direct their work with Virginia
Henderson’s concept as a framework. Such as Abdallah's
21 nursing problems
• The theory is relatively simple, logical and can be applied
to individual of all setting
• The concepts are clinically relevant and can be used to
shape nursing care.
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22. Cont.
Weakness
• Lacks a conceptual diagram that interconnects the 14
concepts and sub concepts.
• The Priority of needs is not clearly articulated in the
theory
• There is a little explanation of what does the nurse do to
provide peaceful death.
• Lacks on the boundaries or clear definition of wellness
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23. V. Henderson Human need theory
critique
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24. We used Chinn and Kramer’s basis for evaluation of nursing
models and our point of views to critique Henderson’s Needs
Theory.
• The theory critique will cover the following criteria's;
Semantic and structural clarity,
 Semantic and structural consistency,
Simplicity and complexity,
Generality, accessibility, and importance of the theory.
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25. Theory critique cont…
1. Clarity
• The theory is characterized by a little of structural clarity.
• She did not introduce a model that represented the theory.
• It is not clear how to use the theory or implement it.
• Semantically the theory is clear because all terms and concepts
are clear and easily understood.
• Her definitions and examples are simple and can be easily
used.
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26. Theory critique cont…
2. Consistency
• Consistent all through because she wanted to teach and
explain the concepts to all people so that they could learn
how nursing care and patients’ needs were connected.
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27. Theory critique cont…
3. Simplicity and accessibility
• Simple and relatively clear.
• Can be accessed by different nursing and medical domains.
4. Generality
• Generalizable and broad in scope
• Applied in all health care settings, different age groups, sex
and cultures.
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28. Theory critique cont…
5. Importance
• The theory easily applicable to improve quality of nursing
care and health of the patient.
• The theory is an important component of nursing knowledge
development which involve evidence based practice and
research.
• She motioned that nursing care was crucial for the patients,
• However, she failed to identify the boundaries and standards
of such care.
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29. Summary
• Virginia Henderson is often seen as the mother of professional
nursing.
• She was a prolific author and researcher.
• Her concept of nursing is still used in clinical and community
health care
• The theory was derived from her experience in clinical
practice, education and research.
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30. summary cont.
• It can be applied to nursing practice as a way for nurses to set
goals based on Henderson’s 14 components.
• The theory easily applicable to improve quality of nursing
care and health of the patient.
• The theory is an important component of nursing knowledge
development which involve evidence based practice and
research.
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31. Acknowledgment
we would like to forward our deepest thanks to instructors Mr.
Nigusse T. and Debela G. for their unreserved help in giving
the chance to prepare this presentation on Virginia Henderson
human need theory.
And our classmates for their attention and patience to attend
the presentation.
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32. Reference
• McEwen M. & Wills, E.M. (2019). Theoretical basis for nursing. 5th
edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins)
• O’Malley, J. (1996). A nursing legacy: Virginia Henderson. Advanced
Practice Nursing Quarterly, 2(2), v–vii.
• Henderson, V. (1991). The nature of nursing: Reflections after 25 years.
New York, NY: National League for Nursing Press.
• Herrmann, E. K. (Ed.). (1998). Virginia Avenel Henderson: Signature for
nursing. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International Center Nursing
Press.
• Alligood, M. R. (2014). Nursing theorists and their work, (8th
ed.).Maryland Heights, (MO): Mosby Elsevier, USA
• Henderson, V. (1966). The nature of nursing. In George, J. (Ed.).
Nursing theories: the base for professional nursing practice. Norwalk,
Connecticut: Appleton & Lange.
• Masters, K. (2015). Models and theories focused on nursing goals and
functions. In J. B. Butts, & K. L. Rich (Eds.), Philosophies and theories
for advanced nursing practice (2nd ed., pp. 377-407). Burlington, MA:
Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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