Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: Introduction to nursing theory: its history, significance and analysis -- History and philosophy of science -- Logical reasoning -- Theory development process -- Nursing theorists of historical significance -- Florence Nightingale: modern nursing -- Jean Nelson: philosophy and science of caring -- Marilyn Anne Ray: theory of bureaucratic caring -- Patricia Benner: from novice to expert: excellence and power in clinical nursing practice -- Kari Martinsen: philosophy of caring -- Katie Eriksson: theory of caritative caring -- Myra Estrin Levine: the conversation model -- Martha E. Rogers: unitary human beings -- Dorothea E. Orem: self-care deficit theory of nursing -- Imogene King: interacting systems framework and middle range theory of goal attainment -- Betty Neuman: systems model -- Sister Callista Roy: Adaptation model -- Dorothy E. Johnson: behavioral system model -- Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer: nursing as caring: a model for transforming practice -- Ida Jean Orlando (Pelletier): Nursing process theory -- Nola J. Pender: health promotion model -- Madeleine Leninger: culture care theory of diversity and universality -- Margaret A. Newman: health as expanding consciousness -- Rosemarie Rizzo Parse: human becoming -- Helen C. Erickson, Evelyn M. Tomlin and Mary Ann P.Swain: modeling and role-modeling -- Gladys L. Husted and James H. Husted: symphonological bioethical theory -- Ramona T. Mercer: maternal role attainment-becoming a mother -- Merle H. Mishel: uncertainty in illness theory -- Pamela G. Reed: self-transcendence theory -- Carolyn L. Wiener and Marylin J. Dodd: theory of illness trajectory -- Georgene Gaskill Eakes, Mary Lermann Burke and Margaret A. Hainsworth: theory of chronic sorrow -- Phil Barker: tidal model of mental health recovery -- Katharine Kolcaba: theory of comfort -- Cheryl Tatano Beck: postpartum depression theory -- Kristen M. Swanson: theory of caring -- Cornelia M. Ruland and Shirley M. Moore: peaceful end of life theory -- State of the art and science of nursing theory --