Emancipatory knowing is the human capacity to be aware of and critically reflect on the social, cultural, and political status quo and to figure out how and why it came to be that way. (Chinn, 2017)
Peggy L. Chinn, RN, PhD, DSc(Hon), FAAN
exploring Peggy L. Chinn’s Nursing THeorY Emancipatory Knowing with a goal of transforming nursing and health care positively.
Oakland, California, 2023
The following video trailer shows a live interview with Peggy L. Chinn, RN, PhD, DSc(Hon), FAAN, who founded the theory called “Emancipatory Knowing” in nursing. This theory focuses on the knowledge required to remove barriers that are making health and well-being difficult and at times impossible for those who are disadvantaged and create environments that promote health and well-being for all” (Chinn, 2018).
According to Dr. Chinn, it is imperative for all nurses to consider incorporating emancipatory knowledge in their nursing practice in order to promote equity in all aspects of society, particularly the healthcare sector.
Ursula interviewed Dr. Peggy L. Chinn in 2023, Oakland, California, regarding the “ills of today” (such as health inequity, social determinants of health barriers, racism in medicine/nursing), and inquired about emancipatory knowing theory application.
Ursula utilized Dr. Chinn’s theory as a framework to understand the health equity topic better and further explore the issues impacting nurses of color as the American Nurses Association has declared a sense of urgency for healthcare professionals to tackle the issue of disparities and underaddressed community health care. Ursula developed a new universal tool that any nurse professional could refer to to learn the theory and apply it to any topic of healthcare disparity to promote better health for all.
Film Trailer: Interview with Peggy L. Chinn
What is the purpose of nursing theory
and how is it helpful?
“The primary purpose of theory in the profession of nursing is to improve practice by positively influencing the health and quality of life of patients.”
“Nursing theory should provide the principles that underpin practice and help to generate further nursing knowledge.”
“Nursing theory-guided practice helps improve the quality of nursing care because it allows nurses to articulate what they do for patients and why they do it.”
“By giving nurses a sense of identity, nursing theory can help patients, managers and other healthcare professionals to recognise the unique contribution that nurses make to the healthcare service.”
Resources:
Carper B. A. (1978). Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing. Advances in Nursing Science, 1, 13-23. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/advancesinnursingscience/Citation/1978/10000/Fundamental_Patterns_of_Knowing_in_Nursing.4.aspx
Chinn P. L., Kramer M. K. (2018). Knowledge development in nursing: Theory and process (10th ed.). Elsevier.
Chinn P. L., (2018, September 18). Emancipatory and Sociopolitical Knowing. Nursology.net blog post. https://nursology.net/patterns-of-knowing-in-nursing/emancipatory-knowing/#:~:text=Emancipatory%20knowing%20is%20%E2%80%9CThe%20human,P.%20%2C%202017%2C%20p.
Chinn, P. (2017). Critical Theory and Emancipatory Knowing in Butts, J. & Rich, K., Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice (3rd. ed., pp. 143-162). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Colley S. (2003). Nursing theory: its importance to practice. Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987), 17(46), 33–37. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.17.46.33.s56.
Rafii, F., Nasrabadi, A. N., & Tehrani, F. J. (2021). How Nurses Apply Patterns of Knowing in Clinical Practice: A Grounded Theory Study. Ethiopian journal of health sciences, 31(1), 139–146. https://doi.org/10.4314/ejhs.v31i1.16
Saleh, U.S. (2018) Theory Guided Practice in Nursing. Journal of Nursing Research and Practice, 2(1):18.
Younas, A., & Quennell, S. (2019). Usefulness of nursing theory-guided practice: an integrative review. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 33(3), 540–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12670