What is a Concept Analysis?
Perhaps the place to start in answering this question is to define the term, concept. According to Powers and Knapp (1990) "A concept is an idea or complex mental image of a phenomenon (object, property, or event). Concepts are the major components of theory." (p. 22). Thus, you see the connection between theory and concepts.
A concept analysis is a process of examining written and unwritten sources of information on a concept to clarify its uses and meaning. Several nurse scholars have written and described the process in relation to building theory (McEwen & Wills, 2007, chapters 3 & 4; Chinn & Kramer, 1999; Rodgers, 1993; Schwartz-Barcott & Kim, 1993; Walker & Avant, 2005, chapter 5). The process is usually done in early theory building efforts or when the literature on the concept is unclear. A concept anlaysis, as used in this course assignment, is a rigorous process whereby a concept is examined using published written sources. The student conducting the analysis chooses a concept of interest to her/him and progresses through a number of steps in analyzing and synthesizing the literature to arrive at a complete picture of what the concept looks like: its causes, characteristics, and consequences.
You will be reading about the concept analysis process in the McEwen & Wills, 2007, ch. 3; text and you may want to refer to other supplemental sources listed in your Unit I Reading Assignment. I have also included a Powerpoint presentation on the concept analysis process with an example that a past Theory I student provided. I have also provided an example "student" paper for you to review. Please click the link to access it. I hope these aides are helpful to you. As always I am just a phone call or e-mail away if you have further questions. Good luck on the assignment!
Read Chapter 3 in McEwen & Wills (2007) and Chapter 5 in walker and Avant on the concept analysis process. Read the concept analysis article by Sutherland. The questions are similar to those in your concept analysis assignment criteria--obviously the same depth in responses is not an expectation for this exercise. During your clinical conference threaded discussion of September 28 you will have some discussion on the exercise.