Changing Theories

This book aims to facilitate the task of reviewing and selecting relevant theories to inform the design of behaviour change interventions and policies. The main goal is to provide on accessible source of potentially useful theories from a range of disciplines beyond those usually considered. It also provides on opportunity to analyse brood issues around the use of theory in the design of behaviour change interventions and examine areas where there is scope for improvement.

Influenced by Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigm shifts in the social sciences, this overview of contemporary theory identifies major themes, charts the impact of social change on theories, acquaints readers with a sample of individual theorists (the "transitional giants" who shaped contemporary theories), explores the impact of contemporary theories on various areas of sociology, and traces how the great social theories of the past are being reinterpreted and incorporated into new theories. The result is an original interpretation of the important role that theory plays both in the real world and in the shaping of an academic discipline.

In a groundbreaking publication, Constance Rimmer Tiffany and Louette R. Johnson Lutjens present a foundation for nurses: understanding of planned change. "Planned Change Theories for Nursing" contains overviews of three widely accepted change theoriesand a new systems-oriented planned change theory and shows the implications of these theories for nursing practice. The first section of this book offers a thoughtful overview of the issues involved in the use of planned change theories, beginning with the rationale for studying planned change theories and important points to consider in choosing among them. The authors then explore the role of power in change and discuss moral and ethical questions involved in planned change. The final chapter in this section addresses the diagnostic process, innovations as solutions, and the evaluation of planned change. Chapter 9 serves as a transition in which the authors reflect on the implications of planned change in a representative nursing model, the well-known Roy Adaptation Model. This chapter also provides a nursing orientation for Part II, in which the authors examine in turn Lewin's micro theories; Bennis, Benne, and Chin's planned change writings; the Rogers Diffusion Model; and Bhola's Configurations Model. For each of these theories or models, the authors present an overview, an analysis and critique, and a discussion entitled, "Altering the Peg," in which the theories are individually viewed in light of the key concepts in the Roy Adaptation Model. The book concludes with a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings for carrying out planned change research and incorporating research findings in nursing practice. In addition, the appendixes provide a wealth of source information for the theories discussed.

Behaviour problems" in our schools occupy a considerable part of the education agenda and media attention. The major thrust of the literature has been on the provision of "new classroom management approaches". Too often these "packages" are inappropriate to the specific context of the school and its pupils. There are no "quick-fix" solutions. In this book, Slee proposes a critical re-examination of the school discipline issue. In doing so, he provides an overview of policy change; an examination of the major schools of thought on student discipline; a reconsideration of the context in which young people, teachers and schools now find themselves; and practical responses for addressing all levels of discipline policy making.

`This is an exceptional book. It tempted me to throw out most of my collected works on the management of change, because the author has somehow succeeded by including almost every aspect of educational change that any practitioner would wish to consider....Overall this is a very stimulating book. It is packed with information and the ideas and concepts contained could pack a school development plan for many years' - School Leadership and Management The theories and practices from the literature on business, manufacturing and commerce which inform principles for managing change in education are identified in this book.The author shows how the complexity of change can be addressed effectively. One principle of effective management of change is its potential to empower the individuals and organizations, its power to create and operate win/win situations. That can only be done by addressing the human side of organizations. The strength of the business literature is that far from advocating the austere, over-rationalized, dehumanized and objective pursuit of profit at all costs, it suggests that the effective management of change is an affirmation of the humanity of business.

Classifies, presents, and discusses the contributions and the limits of the theories of organizational change using an historical perspective as its organizing scheme. This book focuses on process theories of organizational change. It discusses different theoretical perspectives and resulting implications.

A fundamental, reader-friendly guide to evidence-based practice (EBP) for BSN, MSN, and DNP nursing students, Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing explains the conceptual underpinnings of EBP and demonstrates how nurses can put EBP concepts into practice. Replete with critical knowledge, skills, tools, and scholarly development to enable nurses to fully and confidently deliver the highest-quality EBP care, this book eschews a one-size-fits-all approach unique systematic guidelines for understanding and applying EBP. Building blocks of information grow progressively more complex to apply to any point along nursing’s academic trajectory. Thoughtfully organized to fit a variety of EBP-related course objectives, Evidence Based Practice in Nursing easily adapts for standalone EBP courses at any level as well as advanced practice specialty courses that integrate EBP content. This book addresses the needs of all nursing instructors, including those who teach at multiple levels simultaneously. Key content discusses requisite conceptual knowledge of EBP for building clinical decision-making skills; conceptualizing, implementing, and evaluating EBP projects; conducting translational research and quality improvement for implementation and evaluation of EBP; developing leadership and structural empowerment strategies; and analyzing how students at each degree/level work with EBP independently, inter-professionally, and intraprofessionally. Chapters align with AACN essentials. Key Features: Follows a methodical systematic trajectory building from simple to complex concepts Includes abundant examples demonstrating both negative and positive EBP applications Enables instructors to adopt one textbook for BSN, MSN, and DNP students Includes practical design templates for developing EBP information plans with critical guideposts Provides a quality improvement toolkit, key words and concepts, illustrative tables, and figures

Recent economic and political developments in the Third World and in Communist and advanced industrial societies have challenged some of the most cherished assumptions of social science, forcing social scientists to rethink many of the categories of their discipline. In a concisely written and provocative book, the author traces this process of rethinking. He does so by going back to the nineteenth-century origins of political sociology and economy, and by exploring more recent attempts by American scholarship to fashion from the writings of Smith, Marx, Spencer, Weber, and Durkheim a new universal theory of modernization and political change. The author argues that these attempts led to a new intellectual crisis, which could be resolved only by a "paradigm shift," that is, by refocusing the discipline from the classical concept of social relations to a new global concept of the division of labor and systems of exchange. Overall, the volume may be read both as an intellectual history of modern political science, and as an attempt to fashion an analytical tool for empirical research. As such, it will be of interest to students of political philosophy as well as of comparative politics.