ABSTRACT
Florence Nightingale is considered to have established nursing as a profession and was the first nurse to use theory to guide nursing practice. Nursing theories have involved into a metaparadigm, a distinguishing characteristic of any discipline. Nurses in academic settings use nursing theory to develop and disseminate nursing scholarship. The complexities of nursing practice and research have led nurses to integrate concepts from other disciplines into nursing theories. Nursing educators have integrated several M. Bowen theoretical concepts into the nursing curriculum to support clinical strategies for individuals and families in a variety of settings. Bowen theory concepts have been used to help beginning students to learn clinical approaches for the assessment of patterns of communication for individuals. Students are introduced to concepts such as triangles and differentiation of self. Bowen theory concepts are most often used by nurses providing psychiatric care.
