Virginia Henderson’s Need Theory
Virginia Henderson’s Need Theory Henderson’s Theory Background Henderson’s concept of nursing was derived form her practice and education therefore, her work is inductive. She called her definition of nursing her “concept” (Henderson1991) Although her major clinical experiences were in medical-surgical hospitals, she worked as a visiting nurse in New York City. This experience enlarges Henderson’s view to recognize the importance of increasing the patient’s independence so that progress after hospitalization would not be delayed (Henderson,1991) Virginia Henderson defined nursing as “assisting individuals to gain independence in relation to the performance of activities contributing to health or its recovery” (Henderson, 1966, p. 15). She was one of the first nurses to point out that nursing does not consist of merely following physician’s orders. She categorized nursing activities into 14 components, based on human needs. She described the nurse’s role as substitutive (doing for the p...