SR.
CALLISTA ROY
(ADAPTATION THEORY)
Roy's theory is grounded on humanism with the belief that a person has
his own creative power and has coping abilities to enhance wellness.
PERSON
• an adaptive system with coping mechanisms manifested by the adaptive
modes: physiologic, self-concept, role function and interdependence
Physiologic adaptive mode
behavior pertaining to the physical aspect of the human
system
determined by physiologic needs, e.g., sleeping after a
day's work. In the physiologic mode, the focus is on five
needs (oxygenation, nutrition, elimination, activity, rest and
protection) and on four regulatory processes (the senses,
fluids and electrolytes, neurologic, and endocrine functions).
Self-concept mode
the composite of beliefs and feelings held about oneself at a
given time.
Focus on the psychological and spiritual aspects of the human
system.
Need to know who one is, so that one can exist with a state of
unity, meaning, and purposefulness of 2 modes (physical self,
and personal self)
determined by interaction with others. For example, it's nice to
hear someone say, “you’re beautiful in your suit."
Role function mode
Set of expectations about how a person occupying one
position behaves toward another occupying another position
refers to the performance of duties based on given societal
norms or expectations.
Basic need : social integrity, the need to know who one is in
relation to others so that one can act
The need for role clarity of all participants in group
Example:
In today's society, a “mothering" role often includes being a
breadwinner and so a working woman needs to return to her work
soon after the delivery of her baby.
Interdependence mode
Behavior pertaining to interdependent relationships of
individuals and groups. Focus on the close relationships of
people and their purpose. Each relationship exists for some
reason. Involves the willingness and ability to give to others
and accept from others. Balance results in feelings of being
valued and supported by others.
Basic need : feeling of security in relationships
involves ways of seeking help, affection, and attention. It is
also the ability to love, respect, value and accept.
• Includes people as individuals or in groups-families, organizations,
communities, and society as a whole
ENVIRONMENT
• encompasses all conditions, circumstances, and influences surrounding
and affecting the development and behavior of humans as adaptive
systems, with particular consideration of person and earth resources
• elements: represented by stimuli from within the human adaptive system
and stimuli from around the system
HEALTH
• a state and a process of being and becoming an integrated whole human
being. Conversely, illness is lack of integration.
o Integrity – soundness or an unimpaired condition leading to
wholeness
NURSING
• the science and practice that expands adaptive abilities and enhances
person and environment transformation
• an external regulatory force that can modify stimuli, which produce
adaptations
o Stimulus - something that provokes a response, point of
interaction for the human system and the environment
• Nursing can either maintain, increase or decrease stimuli. The
consequence of nursing is the person's adaptation to these stimuli
depending on his position on the health-illness continuum.
• Goal: to promote adaptation for individuals and groups in the four adaptive
modes, thus contributing to health, quality of life, and dying with dignity by
assessing behaviors and factors that influence adaptive abilities and by
intervening to enhance environmental interactions.
ROY ADAPTATION MODEL
KEY CONCEPTS AND THEORETICAL ASSERTIONS
Figure: Adaptive/Effective Response through Four Adaptation Models
The goal of nursing is to promote the person's adaptation along the four adaptive
modes (physiologic, self-concept, role function, and interdependence).
Adaptation: the process and outcome whereby thinking and feeling persons, as
individuals and in groups, use conscious awareness and choice to create human
and environmental integration
Coping Process: innate or acquired ways innate or of interacting with the
changing of environment
The person is able to adapt if he is able to cope with the constantly
changing environment. There are two types of systems at work: regulators and
cognators.
• Regulator subsystem — a basic type of adaptive process that
responds automatically through neural, chemical, and endocrine
coping channels; automatic response to stimulus
• Cognator subsystem — A major coping process involving 4
cognitive-emotive channels: perceptual and information processing,
learning, judgment and emotion;
Adaptive Responses: responses that promotes integrity of the human system,
that is, survival, growth, reproduction, mastery, and personal and environmental
transformation
The level of adaptation of a person is determined by the combined effect of
stimuli, which could either be focal, contextual or residual.
Focal stimuli
o internal or external stimulus immediately affecting the system
o those that immediately confront the person, e.g., pricking of skin
tissue during injection of drugs.
Contextual stimuli are all other stimuli present or contributing factors in
the situation, e.g., inability to explain the procedure and the need for the
drug.
Residual stimuli are unknown factors such as beliefs, attitudes or traits
that have an intermediate effect or influence on the present situation. For
example, the false belief that a patient cannot bathe after an injection.
Significant stimuli in all human adaptation include stage of development,
family, and culture
Ineffective Responses: responses that do not contribute to integrity of the
human system.
Roy's model revolves around the concept of man as an adaptive system. The
person scans the environment for stimuli and ultimately adapts. The nurse, as
part of his environment, assists the person in his effort to adapt by appropriately
managing his environment.
