IMOGENE KING

NOREEN A. SOMERA, RN
THE THEORIST

 Imogene King was born in West Point, Iowa on January

30, 1923, youngest of three children.
 She completed her diploma in nursing education in
1945, at St. John's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
 She received her BS and MS in nursing from St. Louis
University in 1957
 She obtained her Doctorate in Education from Columbia
University, N.Y.
 1947-1958: Med-Surg Nursing Instructor and Asst. Director
of St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing
 1966-1968: Asst. Chief, Research Grants Branch, Division
of Nursing, Washington D.C.
 1968-1972: Director, School of Nursing at Ohio State
University
 1961-1966: Associate Professor at Loyola University,
Chicago
 1971-1980: Professor at Loyola University, Chicago
 She has practiced as a staff nurse, nurse educator, and
nurse administrator.
 She formulated her theory while she was an associate
professor of nursing at Loyola University in Chicago.
 This was at the time nursing was emerging as a
profession and some nurses sought to challenge the
existing role of nurses.
 King began her work in nursing theory with a conceptual
framework.
 King considers her theory as a deviation from systems
theory, with emphasis on interaction theory
 In 1981 she refined her concepts into a nursing theory
that consisted of the following basis:

1. An open system framework as the basis of goal

attainment.
2. Nursing as a major system within the health care system.
3. Nursing process emphasis on interpersonal processes
 1990: Retired with the title Professor Emeritus after serving
as Professor at University of South Florida, College of
Nursing

 Continued to speak at conferences around the world

and consulted with students who were using and
studying her theory

 December 24, 1997: She died, 2 days after suffering from

stroke
THE THEORY OF GOAL ATTAINMENT
 The Theory of Goal Attainment states that:

“Nursing is a process of action, reaction and

interaction by which nurse and client share
information about their perception in a nursing
situation” and “a process of human interactions
between nurse and client whereby each
perceives the other and the situation, and through
communication, they set goals, explore means,
and agree on means to achieve goals.”
PROPOSITIONS

(1) If perceptual interaction accuracy is present in nurse-

patient interactions, transaction will occur.
(2) If the nurse and patient make transaction, the goal or
goals will be achieved.
(3) If the goal or goals are achieved, satisfaction will
occur.
(4) If the goal or goals are achieved, effective nursing care
will occur.
(5) If transactions are made in nurse-patient interactions,
growth and development will be enhanced.
PROPOSITIONS

(6) If role expectations and role performance as perceived

by the nurse and patient are congruent, transaction will
occur.
(7) If role conflict is experienced by either the nurse or the
patient (or both), stress in the nurse-patient interaction will
occur
(8) If a nurse with special knowledge communicates
appropriate information to the patient, mutual goal-setting
and goal achievement will occur.
ASSUMPTIONS

(1) The focus of nursing is the care of the human being

(patient).
(2) The goal of nursing is the health care of both individuals
and groups.
(3) Human beings are open systems interacting with their
environments constantly.
(4) The nurse and patient communicate information, set
goals mutually, and then act to achieve those goals.
This is also the basic assumption of the nursing process.
ASSUMPTIONS

(5) Patients perceive the world as a complete person

making transactions with individuals and things in the
environment.
(6) Transaction represents a life situation in which the
perceiver and the thing being perceived are
encountered.
MAJOR CONCEPTS
Nursing
 Nursing is a process of action, reaction, and interaction
Health
 Health is a dynamic life experience of a human being
Individual
 Individuals are social beings who are rational and
sentient.
Environment
 Environment is the background for human interactions. It
is both external to, and internal to, the individual.
Action
 Action is defined as a sequence of behaviors involving
mental and physical action.
Reaction
 Reaction is not specifically defined but might be
considered to be included in the sequence of behaviors
described in action.
Interacting Systems of Theory of Goal
Attainment
1. Personal Systems

 “The self is a composite of thoughts and feelings which

constitute a person’s awareness of his individual
existence, his conception of who and what he is. A
person’s self is the sum total of all he can call his. The self
includes, among other things, a system of ideas,
attitudes, values, and commitments. The self is a
person’s total subjective environment. It is a distinctive
center of experience and significance. The self
constitutes a person’s inner world as distinguished from
the outer world consisting of all other people and things.
The self is the individual as known to the individual. It is
that to which we refer when we say “I.”
 Growth and development can be defined as the processes in
people’s lives through which they move from a potential for
the achievement to the actualization of self.
 Body image as the way one perceives both one’s body and
others’ reactions to one’s appearance.
 Space includes that space exists in all directions, is the same
everywhere, and is defined by the physical area known as
“territory” and by the behaviors of those occupying it.
 Time is defined as “a duration between one event and
another as uniquely experienced by each human being; it is
the relation of one event to another event.”
 2. Interpersonal Systems
 Interactions are defined as the observable behaviors of two
or more individuals
 Communication as “a process whereby information is given
from one person to another either directly in a face-to-face
meeting or indirectly through telephone, television, or the
written word.”
 Transactions as “a process of interactions in which human
beings communicate with the environment to achieve
goals that are valued… goal-directed human behaviors.
 The characteristics of the role include reciprocity in that
a person may be a giver at one time and a taker at
another time, with a relationship between two or more
individuals who are functioning in two or more roles that
learned, social, complex, and situational.
 Stress is “a dynamic state whereby a human being
interacts with the environment to maintain balance for
growth, development, and performance, which involves
an exchange of energy and information between the
person and the environment for regulation and control
of stressors.”
3. Social Systems

 Power
is the capacity to use resources in organizations to achieve
goals…
is the process whereby one or more persons influence
other persons in a situation….
is the ability to use and to mobilize resources to achieve
goals.
 Status is “the position of an individual in a group or a
group in relation to other groups in an organization” and
is identified that status is accompanied by “privileges,
duties, and obligation.”

 Decision making is “a dynamic and systematic process

by which goal-directed choice of perceived alternatives
is made and acted upon by individuals or groups to
answer a question and attain a goal” (King, 1990).
 Process of Interaction

Interaction
 Interaction is a process of perception and communication between
person and environment and between person and person represented by
verbal and nonverbal behaviors that are goal-directed.
Transaction
 Transaction is a process of interactions in which human beings
communicate with the environment to achieve goals that are valued;
transactions are goal-directed human behaviors.
Perception is “each person’s representation of reality.”
Communication
 Communication is defined as “a process whereby information is given from
one person to another either directly in face-to-face meetings or indirectly
through telephone, television, or the written word.”
Role
 Role is defined as “a set of behaviors expected of persons
occupying a position in a social system; rules that define rights and
obligations in a position; a relationship with one or more individuals
interacting in specific situations for a purpose.”
Stress
 Stress is “a dynamic state whereby a human being interacts with the
environment to maintain balance for growth, development, and
performance… an energy response of an individual to persons,
objects, and events called stressors.”
Growth and Development
 Growth and development can be defined as the “continuous
changes in individuals at the cellular, molecular, and behavioral
levels of activities… the processes that take place in the life of
individuals that help them move from potential capacity for
achievement to self-actualization.”
Time
 Time is “a sequence of events moving onward to the future… a
continuous flow of events in successive order that implies a change,
a past and a future… a duration between one event and another
as uniquely experienced by each human being… the relation of
one event to another.”
Space
 Space exists in every direction and is the same in all directions.
Space includes that physical area called territory. Space is defined
by the behaviors of those individuals who occupy it
Theory of Goal Attainment and The Nursing
Process

 King gives emphasis about the nursing process in her

model of nursing. The steps of the nursing process
are: assessment, nursing
diagnosis, planning, implementations, and evaluation.
 In the healthcare field, the final goal in the nurse-patient
relationship is to help the patient achieve his or her goals
for getting healthy. By using the nursing process
described in King’s Theory of Goal Attainment, a nurse
can be more effective in working with a patient to
achieve those goals, and can truly help patients.
REFERENCES

 Safier, G. (1977). Contemporary American leaders in nursing: An oral history.

New York: McGraw Hill.
 Imogene King Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7, 2014, from
http://king.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=459369&m
odule_id=59920