Free Nursing Theories MCQs with Answers

49 Nursing Theories MCQs from Nursing Management and Ethics, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

Nursing theories explain relationships among the person, environment, health and nursing, and provide frameworks for assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation. Coverage includes the ideas of Nightingale, Orem, Roy, Neuman, Peplau, Watson and other major theorists, with attention to how a theory differs from a conceptual model.

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49 questions · page 2 of 3

  • A. The person as a behavioral system with organized subsystems
  • B. The person as a collection of independent physical organs
  • C. The person as a passive receiver of medical treatment
  • D. The person as a set of separate environmental responses

Explanation: Johnson viewed the person as a behavioral system made up of interacting subsystems, such as attachment, dependency and achievement.

Correct answer: The person as a behavioral system with organized subsystems
Fairly easy
  • A. Levine's conservation model
  • B. Rogers' unitary human beings model
  • C. Peplau's interpersonal relations theory
  • D. Pender's health promotion model

Explanation: Levine's conservation model emphasizes conservation of energy, structural integrity, personal integrity and social integrity.

Correct answer: Levine's conservation model
  • A. An irreducible whole in continuous interaction with the environment
  • B. A group of separate systems that function independently
  • C. A passive recipient who depends on nursing direction
  • D. A collection of behaviors controlled mainly by social rules

Explanation: Rogers described people and environments as irreducible energy fields that are continuously changing and interacting.

Correct answer: An irreducible whole in continuous interaction with the environment
  • A. Orlando's nursing process theory
  • B. Levine's conservation model
  • C. Johnson's behavioral system model
  • D. Rogers' unitary human beings theory

Explanation: Orlando's theory requires the nurse to explore the patient's behavior, identify the nurse's immediate reaction and validate its meaning…

Correct answer: Orlando's nursing process theory
  • A. Factors that influence health-promoting behaviors
  • B. Stages of adaptation after a stressful stimulus
  • C. Protection from environmental stressors and instability
  • D. The nurse's role in restoring physical independence

Explanation: Pender's model explains how personal experiences, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and self-efficacy influence health-promoting…

Correct answer: Factors that influence health-promoting behaviors
Moderate
  • A. Meaning
  • B. Homeostasis
  • C. Dependency
  • D. Environmental control

Explanation: Parse's theory emphasizes that people create meaning, pattern their relationships and transcend situations.

Correct answer: Meaning
  • A. Joyce Travelbee
  • B. Dorothy Johnson
  • C. Myra Levine
  • D. Dorothea Orem

Explanation: Travelbee described nursing as a human-to-human relationship in which the nurse helps the person find meaning in illness and suffering.

Correct answer: Joyce Travelbee
Moderate
  • A. Primary prevention
  • B. Secondary prevention
  • C. Tertiary prevention
  • D. Rehabilitative prevention

Explanation: Primary prevention occurs before a stressor reaction develops and aims to strengthen the person's defenses.

Correct answer: Primary prevention
  • A. Henderson's basic needs approach
  • B. Orem's wholly compensatory system
  • C. Roy's cognator coping subsystem
  • D. Peplau's resolution phase

Explanation: Henderson identified basic needs that support independence, including breathing, nutrition, movement and communication.

Correct answer: Henderson's basic needs approach
Moderate
  • A. A theory is generally more specific and testable than a conceptual model
  • B. A conceptual model always includes more measurable variables than a theory
  • C. A theory is only a personal opinion and cannot guide nursing practice
  • D. A conceptual model is limited to one patient and cannot organize nursing care

Explanation: Conceptual models provide broad, organized views of nursing phenomena, whereas theories usually state more specific relationships that can…

Correct answer: A theory is generally more specific and testable than a conceptual model
Fairly easy
  • A. Novice
  • B. Advanced beginner
  • C. Competent
  • D. Proficient

Explanation: A novice has little or no experience in the clinical situation and relies on rules and supervision.

Correct answer: Novice
Fairly easy
  • A. Leininger's transcultural nursing theory
  • B. Benner's skill acquisition model
  • C. Hall's care, core and cure model
  • D. Abdellah's nursing problems model

Explanation: Leininger's theory focuses on culturally congruent care that fits the patient's values, beliefs and lifeways.

Correct answer: Leininger's transcultural nursing theory
Moderate
  • A. Orlando's nursing process theory
  • B. Rogers' unitary human beings theory
  • C. Levine's conservation model
  • D. Pender's health promotion model

Explanation: Orlando's theory emphasises the nurse's reaction to patient behaviour, validation of its meaning and deliberate nursing action.

Correct answer: Orlando's nursing process theory
Moderate
  • A. Conservation of energy
  • B. Conservation of personal integrity
  • C. Conservation of social integrity
  • D. Conservation of structural integrity

Explanation: Conservation of energy helps the patient avoid unnecessary energy expenditure and supports healing.

Correct answer: Conservation of energy
  • A. To organise nursing care around patient-centred problems
  • B. To classify patients according to stages of skill development
  • C. To explain how culture determines health practices
  • D. To describe phases of the nurse-patient relationship

Explanation: Abdellah organised nursing practice around identifying and solving patient-centred nursing problems.

Correct answer: To organise nursing care around patient-centred problems
Very hard
  • A. Joyce Travelbee
  • B. Dorothy Johnson
  • C. Virginia Henderson
  • D. Betty Neuman

Explanation: Travelbee's human-to-human relationship model emphasises illness, suffering, hope and finding meaning through a genuine nurse-patient…

Correct answer: Joyce Travelbee
  • A. Core
  • B. Care
  • C. Cure
  • D. Control

Explanation: The core is the person receiving care and the therapeutic interpersonal relationship.

Correct answer: Core
Very hard
  • A. The helping art of clinical nursing
  • B. The conservation of structural integrity
  • C. The attainment of self-actualisation
  • D. The reduction of environmental stressors

Explanation: Wiedenbach described nursing as a helping art in which the nurse identifies a need for help and provides purposeful assistance.

Correct answer: The helping art of clinical nursing
  • A. Novice
  • B. Advanced beginner
  • C. Competent
  • D. Expert

Explanation: An advanced beginner can perform some tasks and recognise recurring clinical features but still needs assistance with complex situations…

Correct answer: Advanced beginner
  • A. The patient's ability to perform self-care activities
  • B. The total self-care actions required to meet needs
  • C. The nurse's skill in providing dependent care
  • D. The patient's motivation to accept nursing support

Explanation: Therapeutic self-care demand is the complete set of self-care actions needed to meet the person's known requirements.

Correct answer: The total self-care actions required to meet needs