ABSTRACT
The Sessler Branden Advocacy Theory (SBAT) was discovered through the Corbin and Strauss grounded theory method to address the gaps in the literature regarding the advocate role. This study has contributed to the extant knowledge of the nurse as advocate and has identified and explicated the role of the nurse advocate. The SBAT has bridged the existing knowledge with a substantive, pragmatic theory that can be applied and utilized by any nurse in any situation where advocacy is needed. Although the study participants were nurses, this theory could be operationalized by all professional groups in order to effect change.
