Middel range theories have been applied to nursing and psychology fields, for example in Nursing: A middle-range theory like Leininger's Cultural Care Theory could be used to explore how cultural factors impact patient care and in In Psychology: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory might be used to study how individuals learn behaviors through observing others, which could be applied to phenomena like aggression or educational achievement. Middle-range theories in nursing and physiology connect big ideas with real-world use, helping nurses understand patient behavior and improve care (Smith et al., 2024). Liehr and Smith’s concept building process is a 10-phase process which allows one to reflect on and delineate an area of interest, formulate abstract ideas through reflection, then formulate a concrete concept with its conceptual definition. Children and adolescents are faced with multiple stressors that will lead to insecurities and fears, often both groups will recover from such stressors through resilience that promotes positive outcomes and positive mental health outcomes.

           The purpose of building the concept of nurturing resilience is to clarify the meaning of this concept in children and adolescents, develop a conceptual definition of nurturing resilience, and provide a conceptual model of nurturing resilience based on the building process. The concept was formulated utilizing Liehr and Smith's practice-based approach to concept building (Martinez, & Opalinski, 2019). It is imperative that nurses use the resilience theory to promote balance and a positive outcome. Resilience is a protective mechanism which keeps youth balanced while promoting positive mental health when faced with adversities by allowing one to bounce back after adversity to an original, fundamental state (Martinez & Opalinski, 2019). Nurses need to be able to be resilient in order to promote it and achieve positive outcomes in children and adolescents. Nurturing resilience provides adolescents and children the ability to change in response to difficult circumstances; in turn, mental distress is reduced, and mental health of youth are optimized.

References

Smith, M. J., Liehr, P. R., & Carpenter, R. (2024). Middle range theory for nursing. Springer Publishing.

S; M. W. (2020, July 8). Taking on enduring distress: Building a concept to lead a program of Research. Nursing forum. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32643164/

Martinez, L. A., & Opalinski, A. S. (2019). Home Page: Journal of Pediatric Nursing: Nursing Care of children and families. Building the Concept of Nurturing Resilience. https://www.pediatricnursing.org/