Imogene King’s

Theory of Goal
Attainment
Group Members: Ulfat Alam, Abida Hamid, Ayesha Ghani,
Muhammad Nawaz Khan, Mudasir Ayub
Objectives
• At the end of this lecture, students will be able to:
• Know Biography of Imogene King.
• Define King’s goal attainment theory.
• Describe its major assumptions.
• Explain the interacting systems.
• Discuss its metaparadigms.
• Describe the strength and weaknesses of Kinsgs theory.
• Discuss nursing process in Kings theory.
Biography of Imogene King
Biography of Imogene King
• Complete Name: Imogene Martina King
• Born on January 30, 1923
• Early Life: 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. Thus began her remarkable career in
nursing.
• Education: In 1945, she received a nursing diploma from St. John’s
Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis, Missouri.
• King started coursework toward a Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Education, which she received from St. Louis University in 1948.
Biography of Imogene King

• In 1957, she received a Master of Science in Nursing from St. Louis

University.
• She received her Docorate from Teacher’s college, Columbia university, New
York in 1961.
• Career and Appointment: From 1947 to 1958, she worked as an instructor
in Medical-Surgical nursing and was an assistant director at St. John’s
Hospital School of Nursing.
• Her first theory article appeared in 1964 in the journal Nursing Science,
which nurse theorist Martha Rogers edited.
• King article “A Conceptual Frame of Reference for Nursing” was published in
Nursing Research (1968).
Goal Attainment Theory

Grand Theory
Definition
• The Theory of Goal Attainment states that “Nursing is a process of
action, reaction, and interaction whereby nurse and client share
information about their perception in the nursing situation.”
Major 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
5. Patients perceive the world as a complete person making transactions
with individuals and things in the environment.
6. The transaction represents a life situation in which the perceiver and the thing
being perceived are encountered. It also represents a life situation in which a
person enters the situation as an active participant. Each is changed in the
process of these experiences.
Major Concepts
• Interacting Systems:
According to King, there are three interacting systems in the
Theory of Goal Attainment. These are the personal system, the
interpersonal system, and the social system. Each system is given
different concepts.
1. Personal Systems
• Each individual is a personal system. King designated an example of a
personal system as a patient or a nurse. King specified the concepts of:
• Perception - process of organizing, interpreting, and transforming
information from sense data and memory that gives meaning to one’s
experience, represent one’s image of reality, and influence one’s behavior.
• Self - composite of thoughts and feelings which constitute a person’s
awareness of his individual existence, his conception of who and what he is.
• Body image - how one perceives both one’s body and others’ reactions to
one’s appearance.
1. Personal Systems
• Space - physical area known as “territory” and by the behaviors of
those occupying it.
• Growth and Development - processes in people’s lives through which
they move from a potential for achievement to the actualization of
self.
• Time - duration between one event and another as uniquely
experienced by each human being; it is the relation of one event to
another event.”
• Learning - gaining knowldege
2. Interpersonal Systems
• These are formed by human beings interacting.
• Two interacting individuals form a dyad; three form a triad, and four
or more form small or large groups.
• It consists of the following consepts:
• Interactions - observable behaviors of two or more individuals in
mutual presence.
• Communication - 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.
2. Interpersonal Systems
• Transactions - a process of interactions in which human beings
communicate with the environment to achieve goals that are valued…
goal-directed human behaviors.
• Role - reciprocity.
• Stress - 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
• A more comprehensive interacting system consists of groups that
make up society, referred to as the social system.
• Religious, educational, and health care systems are examples of social
systems.
• Power - the capacity to use resources in organizations to achieve
goals.
• Decision making - 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.
Dynamic Conceptual System
Propositions of King’s Theory
• If perceptual interaction accuracy is present in nurse-patient
interactions, the transaction will occur.
• If the nurse and patient make the transaction, the goal or goals will be
achieved.
• If the goal or goals are achieved, satisfaction will occur.
• If the goal or goals are achieved, effective nursing care will occur.
• If transactions are made in nurse-patient interactions, growth and
development will be enhanced.
Propositions of King’s Theory
• If role expectations and role performance perceived by the nurse and
patient are congruent, the transaction will occur.
• If role conflict is experienced by either the nurse or the patient (or
both), stress in the nurse-patient interaction will occur.
• If a nurse with special knowledge communicates appropriate
information to the patient, mutual goal-setting and goal achievement
will occur.
Meta Paradigm
 Meta Paradigm
• 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 how 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 daily living potential.
Meta Paradigm
• Person:
Individuals are social beings who are rational and sentient.
Humans communicate their thoughts, actions, customs, and beliefs
through language.
• Environment:
The environment is the background for human interactions. It is
both external to, and internal to, the individual.
Strengths of Kings Theory
• A major strong point of King’s conceptual system and Theory of Goal
Attainment is how nurses can understand goal attainment theory and
describe a logical sequence of events.
• King’s definitions are clear and are conceptually derived from the
research literature.
Weaknesses of Kings Theory
• It has been criticized for having limited application in nursing areas in
which patients are unable to interact competently with the nurse.
• Another limitation relates to the lack of development of applying the
theory in providing nursing care to groups, families, or communities.
Theory of Goal Attainment and The
Nursing Process
Theory of Goal Attainment and The
Nursing Process
• Assessment
It takes place during the interaction. The nurse uses his or her
special knowledge and skills while the patient delivers knowledge of
him or herself and the perception of problems of concern to the
interaction. During this phase, the nurse gathers data about the patient,
including their growth and development, the perception of self, and
current health status.
• Nursing diagnosis
This phase is developed using the data collected in the
assessment. In attaining goals, the nurse identifies problems, concerns,
and disturbances about which the patient is seeking help.
Theory of Goal Attainment and The
Nursing Process
• Planning:
Planning phase arises after the diagnosis. The nurse and other
health care team members create a care plan of interventions to
solve the problems identified. This phase is represented by setting
goals and making decisions about the means to achieve those goals.
• Implementation:
It is the continuation of transaction. Actual activities done in this
phase.
Theory of Goal Attainment and The
Nursing Process
• Evaluation
The nurse evaluates the patient to determine whether the goals
were achieved.
References:
• Nurses Lab: https://nurseslabs.com/imogene-m-kings-theory-goal-
attainment/
• Nursing Science Quarterly:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0894318407299846?
journalCode=nsqa
• SAGE Journals:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08943184920050010
7?journalCode=nsqa