A critique of concept analysis

Abstract

I argue that there is no place for concept analysis in the scholarship of modern nursing. Although it may have played a role in the intellectual history of our profession, concept analysis is methodologically weak and philosophically dubious. Furthermore, there is no evidence that it has made a contribution to patient care. Concept analysis looked promising in the turbulent days of the 1980s. Nursing practice was being transformed by the introduction of the nursing process and primary nursing. Many changes were driven by an infusion of intellectual energy from newly formed university departments of nursing. Nursing research began to flourish and nursing theories and models were discussed passionately. We were confident that – within a decade or two – nursing would have its unique knowledge base, the ultimate mark of a true profession. Our knowledge base would be built 'from the ground up'. Concept analysis would help us to describe the key elements of nursing practice and we would explore the relationships between concepts through programmes of empirical research. In time, we would build theories and conceptual models and these would feedback to improve practice in a virtuous circle of professional development. Some elements of this vision have, indeed, flourished. In many countries, nursing education is embedded in universities. Nursing research is vibrant, and nurses have played a leading part in the development of evidence-based practice. Other aspects of the prospectus ha…