IMOGENE KING - GOAL ATTAINMENT THEORY (BUQUING, ENDEREZ, PADRIGON)

IMOGENE M. KING

“A professional nurse, with special knowledge and skills, and a client in need of nursing, with knowledge of self and perception of personal problems, meet as strangers in natural environment. They interact mutually, identify problems, establish and achieve goals”

A. SHORT BIOGRAPHY

         King was born Jan. 30, 1923, in West Point, Iowa. During her early high school years, she decided to pursue a career in teaching. However, her uncle, the town surgeon, offered to pay her tuition to nursing school. She eventually accepted the offer, seeing nursing school as a way to escape life in a small town. Thus began her remarkable career in nursing.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

• 1945-  received Nursing Diploma from St. John’s Hospital of Nursing St. Louis,Missouri
• 1948- BS Nursing & Education with minors in Philosophy and Chemistry from St. John’s Hospital  Nursing St. Louis, Missouri
• 1957- Master of Science  Nursing from St. John’s University
• 1961- Doctorate  in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University
• 1980- Honorary Ph.D from Southern Illinois University

WORK EXPERIENCES

• Administrator Director of the Ohio State University, School of Nursing (1968-1972).
• Educator  at St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing; Loyola University, and University of South Florida (1961-1980). Where she was involved in efforts to change the curriculum from a medical model to a nursing model.
• Practitioner as Adult Medical – Surgical Nurse.
• Assistant Chief at the Research Grants Branch, Division of Nursing, Department of Health and Welfare. Washington, D.C. (1966-1968)
• Was honored as Professor Emeritus at University of South Florida in 1990.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Founder of King International Nursing Group (1998)
• Jessie M. Scott Award ( ANA Convention) (1996)
• In 2005, she was given a title a “Living Legend” by the American Academy of Nursing

B. THEORY

Goal Attainment Theory

• Theory of goal attainment was first introduced by Imogene King in the early 1960’s.
• Theory describes a dynamic, interpersonal relationship in which a person grows and develops to attain certain life goals.

·         Factors which affect the attainment of goal are: roles, stress, space & time

From the theory of goal attainment king developed predictive propositions, which includes:

• If perceptual interaction accuracy is present in nurse-client interactions, transaction will occur
• If nurse and client make transaction, goal will be attained
• If goal are attained, satisfaction will occur
• If transactions are made in nurse-client interactions, growth & development will be enhanced
• If role expectations and role performance as perceived by nurse & client are congruent, transaction will occur
• If role conflict is experienced by nurse or client or both, stress in nurse-client interaction will occur
• If nurse with special knowledge skill communicate appropriate information to client, mutual goal setting and goal attainment will occur.

         Many people believe King's theory of goal attainment to be a productive and empowering way for nurses and patients to interact. There has been some discussion about how well the theory applies across all groups of patients, as it is necessary for the patient to be able to interact with the nurse to develop and agree on goals, and on ways to work toward those goals. Others contend that King's theory can be applied to all groups because a large portion of communication involves nonverbal behavior, so being able to communicate through spoken language is not a prerequisite for transactions to occur.

Goal Attainment Theory Conceptual Framework

It includes:

• Several basic assumptions
• Three interacting systems
• Several concepts relevant for each system

Basic assumptions

• Nursing focus is the care of human being.
• Nursing goal is the health care of individuals & groups.
• Human beings: are open systems interacting constantly with their environment.

Interacting systems: 

• Personal system
• Interpersonal system
• Social system

Concepts are given for each system:

Concepts for Personal System: Perception, Self, Growth & development, Body image, Space, Time

Concepts for Interpersonal System: Interaction, Communication, Transaction, Role, Stress

Concepts for Social System: Organization, Authority, Power, Status, Decision making

         The theory of goal attainment, which lies at the heart of King's theory of nursing, exists in the context of her conceptual framework. The essence of goal attainment theory is that the nurse and the patient work together to define and reach goals that they set together. The patient and nurse each perceive, judge, and act, and together the patient and nurse react to each other and interact with each other. 

         At the end of this process of communication and perceiving, if a goal has been set a transaction is said to have occurred. The nurse and patient also decide on a way to work toward the goal that has been decided upon, and put into action the plan that has been agreed upon. King believes that the main function of nursing is to increase or to restore the health of the patient, so then, transactions should occur to set goals related to the health of the patient. After transactions have occurred and goals have been defined by the nurse and patient together, both parties work toward the stated goals. This may involve interactions with other systems, such as other healthcare workers, the patient's family, or larger systems.

        After the transaction has occurred, and the goal has been set, King believes that it is important for good documentation to be practiced by the nurse. She believes that documenting the goal can help to streamline the process of goal attainment, making it easier for nurses to communicate with each other and other healthcare workers involved in the process. It also helps to provide a way to determine if the goal is achieved. This assessment of whether or not the goal has been successfully achieved plays an important end stage in King's goal attainment theory.

C. METAPARADIGM

• Nursing

Nursing is a process of action, reaction, and interaction whereby nurse and client share information about their perceptions in the nursing situation. The nurse and client share specific goals, problems, and concerns and explore means to achieve a goal.

• Health

Health is a dynamic life experience of a human being, which implies continuous adjustment to stressors in the internal and external environment through optimum use of one’s resources to achieve maximum potential for daily living.

• Individual

Individuals are social beings who are rational and sentient. Humans communicate their thoughts, actions, customs, and beliefs through language. Persons exhibit common characteristics such as the ability to perceive, to think, to feel, to choose between alternative courses of action, to set goals, to select the means to achieve goals, and to make decisions.

• Environment

Environment is the background for human interactions. It is both external to, and internal to, the individual.

D. CONCLUSION

King contributed to the advancement of nursing knowledge through the development of her conceptual system and middle-range Theory of Goal Attainment. By focusing on the attainment of goals, or outcomes, by nurse-patient partnerships, King provided a conceptual system and middle-range theory that has demonstrated its usefulness to nurses. Nurses working in a variety of settings with patients from around the world continue to use King’s work to improve the quality of patient care.

BY: 

BUQUING, SALVADOR REY

ENDEREZ, MARIEL

PADRIGON, EVANGELINE

E. REFERENCES

• http://www.slideshare.net/msmaybelle/imogene-king-17077545 
• https://nurseslabs.com/imogene-m-kings-theory-goal-attainment/
• http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/goal_attainment_theory.html
• http://nursing-theory.org/nursing-theorists/Imogene-King.php 
• http://tfn-thesis.blogspot.com/2012/09/imogene-king.html