From provider to partner: a conceptual framework for nursing education based on primary health care premises

An emerging need to educate nurses in innovative ways of working that respond to and interact with informal support networks was discerned. Accordingly, this study's purpose was to develop a conceptual framework for undergraduate nursing education that manifests a primary health care philosophy of consumer input and collaboration with lay helpers. This was predicated in part on a review of social-support theoretic premises, other theories germane to social support, and existing conceptual frameworks for the nursing discipline. Sixteen assumptions were developed and the four components of nursing's metaparadigm were defined to reflect primary health care premises of professional partnership with laypersons. Twenty core concepts were derived from social-support supplementary theories. A connecting structure was developed through creation of 20 relationship statements and 2 figures. The framework was favorably, albeit tentatively, evaluated against preselected criteria.