Re-thinking the theory-practice relationship in nursing: an alternative perspective

The alleged gap between theory and practice in nursing is usually understood as dissonance between what is taught in educational institutions and that which is performed in the every day world of nursing practice. Historically strategies devised to enhance the relationship between theory and practice have focused upon manipulating factors in the environment in which learning takes place. Thus far, this has at best proved to be only partially successful. To increase understanding of the relationship this paper proposes the emerging and complementary theory of enactivism. Enactivism is a theory that enfolds the student, the context for learning and the leaned as intimate components.