CONSERVATION THEORY

“MYRA ESTERIN LEVINE”

"Ethical behaviour is not the display of one's moral rectitude in times of crisis, it is the day-to-day expression of one's commitment to other persons and the ways in which human beings relate to one another in their daily interactions." - Levine, Myra (1972) 

Myra Levine's Conservation Theory

SUMMARY OF LEVINE’S LIFE

1920- Myra Estrine Levine was born in Chicago The eldest among the three children ( has 1sister & 1

brother ) 1969/1973/1989- Publication on " An Introduction to Clinical

Nursing" made a significant contribution to the "why's" of nursing actions.

1992- awarded as Honorary Doctorate fro Loyola University 1996 - She died at the age of 75. Educational Achievement 1944- Diploma in nursing:-Cook county SON, Chicago 1949 - Bachelor of Science in Nursing-University of Chicago 1962 - Masters of Science in Nursing -Wayne state

University, Detroit

Milestones:

Clinical experience in OT technique and oncology nursing

Civilian nurse at the Gardiner General HospitalDirector of Nursing at Drexel Home in ChicagoClinical instructor at Bryan Memorial Hospital in

Lincoln, NebraskaAdministrative supervisor at university of ChicagoChairperson of clinical nursing at Cook Country SONVisiting professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel Authored 77 published articles

Achievements:

COMPOSITION OF CONSERVATION

MODEL

is focused in promoting adaptation and maintaining wholeness using the principles of conservation. The model guides the nurse to focus on the influences and responses at the organismic level. The nurse accomplishes the goals of the model through the conservation of energy, structure, and personal and social integrity.

Levine’s Conservation Model 

is the process of change, and conservation is the outcome of adaptation. Adaptation is the process whereby the patient maintains integrity within the realities of the environment.

Adaptation

description of wholeness as an open system.  Levine stated that “the unceasing interaction of the individual organism with its environment does represent an ‘open and fluid’ system, and a condition of health, wholeness, exists when the interaction or constant adaptations to the environment.

Wholeness

is the product of adaptation. Conservation describes the way complex systems are able to continue to function even when severely challenged. The goal of conservation is health and the strength to confront disability.

Conservation

METAPARADIGM

Individuals continuously defend their wholeness in constant interaction with their environments and choose the most economical, frugal, energy-sparing options available to safeguard their integrity.

A person is a holistic being, who is sentinent, thinking, future-oriented and past-aware. It

A holistic being who has open and fluid boundaries that co-exist with the environment.

He is "whole"A unified social being"Whole" not only in the physical aspect but also with regards to

psychosocio-cultural and spiritual aspectsA person is a sense of identity and worth. A unique individual in

unity and integrity, feeling, believing, thinking and whole system of system.

PERSON

State of being "whole" not just the absence of illness or disease.

Is determined by the ability to function in a reasonably normal manner 

It is culturally determined and influence by ethos and beliefs. 

Health is wholeness and successful adaptation. Not merely healing of an afflicted part, it is return to daily

activities, selfhood and the ability to once more pursue by an individual, his or her own interest without constraints. 

Health can be socially determined (through their interaction with the significant others). Failure in doing so is a negative scenario. 

HEALTH

Where the person is constantly and actively involved.

It is where we live our lives. Composed of all the experiences of the

individuals.It pertains to the internal (physiologic) and

external environment (perceptual, operational, and conceptual).

ENVIRONMENT

Internal environment combines the physiological and pathophysiological aspects of the individual and is constantly challenged by the external environment. The internal environment also is the integration of bodily functions that resembles homeorrhesis rather than homeostasis and is subject to challenges of the external environment, which always are a form of energy.

Homeostasis is a state of energy sparing that also provides the necessary baselines for a multitude of synchronized physiological and psychological factors, while homeorrhesis is a stabilized flow rather than a static state. The internal environment emphasizes the fluidity of change within a space-time continuum.

is divided into the perceptual, operational, and conceptual environments.

External environment

Perceptual environment is that portion of the external environment which individuals respond to with their sense organs and includes light, sound, touch, temperature, chemical change that is smelled or tasted, and position sense and balance.

Operational environment is that portion of the external environment which interacts with living tissue even though the individual does not possess sensory organs that can record the presence of these factors and includes all forms of radiation, microorganisms, and pollutants.

Conceptual environment is that portion of the external environment that consists of language, ideas, symbols, and concepts and inventions and encompasses the exchange of language, the ability to think and experience emotion, value systems, religious beliefs, ethnic and cultural traditions, and individual psychological patterns that come from life experiences.

Is a human interaction designed to promote wholeness through adaptation

Nursing care is both supportive and therapeutic (to achieve maximum level of adaptation).

Promote wholeness through the use of the four conservation principles.

Realizing that every individual requires a unique and separate clusters of activity.

Individual integrity is his abiding concern and it is the nurse's responsibility to assist him to defend and to seek its relization.

The major area of concern for nurses in maintenance of a person's wholeness.

NURSING

Levine’s Conservation Model discussed that the way in which the person and the environment become congruent over time. It is the fit of the person with his or her predicament of time and space. The specific adaptive responses make conservation possible occur on many levels; molecular, physiologic, emotional, psychologic, and social. These responses are based on three factors historicity, specificity and redundancy. 

1. Historicity refers to the notion that adaptive responses are partially based on personal and genetic past history. Each individual is made up of a combination of personal and genetic history, and adaptive responses are the result of both. 2. Specificity refers the fact that each system that makes up a human being has unique stimulus-response pathways. Responses are stimulated by specific stressors and are task oriented. Responses that are stimulated in multiple pathways tend to be synchronized and occur in a cascade of complimentary (or detrimental in some cases) reactions. 3. Redundancy describes the notion that if one system or pathway, is unable to ensure adaptation, then another pathway may be able to take over and complete the job.

Myra Levine described the Four Conservation Principles. These principles focus on conserving an

individual's wholeness.

KEY CONCEPTS (Conservational

principle) 

Conservation of energy:

Refers to balancing

energy input and

output to avoid

excessive fatigue. It

includes adequate

rest, nutrition and

exercise. 

Examples: Availability

of adequate rest;

Maintenance of

adequate nutrition

Conservation of structural integrity:

Refers to

maintaining or

restoring the

structure of body

preventing physical

breakdown and

promoting healing. 

Examples: Assist

patient in ROM

exercise;

Maintenance of

patient’s personal

hygiene 

Conservation of personal integrity:

Recognizes the

individual as one

who strives for

recognition,

respect, self

awareness,

selfhood and self

determination. 

Example:

Recognize and

protect patient’s

space needs 

Conservation of social integrity:

An individual is

recognized as some

one who resides with

in a family, a

community, a religious

group, an ethnic

group, a political

system and a nation. 

Example: Help the

individual to preserve

his or her place in a

family, community,

and society.

Myra Levine’s Model also discusses other assertions and assumptions.

ASSUMPTIONS

The nurse creates an environment in which healing could occur A human being is more than the sum of the part Human being respond in a predictable way Human being are unique in their responses Human being know and appraise objects ,condition and situation Human being sense ,reflects, reason and understand Human being action are self determined even when emotional Human being are capable of prolonging reflection through such strategists raising

questions Human being make decision through prioritizing course of action Human being must be aware and able to contemplate objects, condition and situation Human being are agents who act deliberately to attain goal Adaptive changes involve the whole individual A human being has unity in his response to the environment Every person possesses a unique adaptive ability based on one’s life experience which

creates a unique message There is an order and continuity to life change is not random A human being respond organismically in an ever changing manner A theory of nursing must recognized the importance of detail of care for a single patient

with in an empiric framework that successfully describe the requirement of the all patient

A human being is a social animal A human being is an constant interaction with an ever changing society Change is inevitable in life Nursing needs existing and emerging demands of self care and dependant care Nursing is associated with condition of regulation of exercise or development of

capabilities of providing care

PREPARED BY: MELBERT L. SIMORA

CLASS INTRUCTOR: MRS. IRENE RAMOS

THE END