Dorothea Orem Self Care Theory

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Dorothea Orem-Self Care Theory

Dorothea Orem- Self Care Theory Dorothea Orem’s theory of self-care is based on three related theories: the theory of self- care, the theory of self-care deficit and the theory of nursing systems (Roussel, 2013). Dorothea Orem’s theories have become a central point in the progress of curriculum for numerous schools of nursing (Flynn & Heffron, 1988). According to Orem, it is the special focus on human beings that distinguishes or differentiates nursing from other human services (Nursing Theory, 2013). Orem’s viewpoint of nursing is centered on each person’s self-care agency. She defined self-care as, “the practice of activities that individuals personally initiate and perform on their own behalf in maintaining life, health, and well-being” (Nursing Theory, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to describe Dorothea Orem’s theory and to identify how this theory can be implemented by a nursing leader in a healthcare organization. Orem addressed a person as a human being, with three characteristics that separate them from any living creature, they include the abilities to contemplate on their situation, to indicate their feeling and express their needs, and superior intelligence to correspond and invent needed item that will advance themselves and society. Orem recognized that each human being has the prospective abilities to gain knowledge and continue to improve. She felt that each human being has a collection of roles which include self concepts, body image, personal and social relationships that places them in this high functioning category of living creatures. Orem felt that our behaviors are learned and influenced by our internal and external environment. Orem felt that how factors influence an individual’s developmental stages and their approach to life
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