Johnson Model of Health

Discussion:  Johnson’s Theory! Johnson’s theory is sometimes hard for students to grasp – it can be quite abstract. Just try your best! Here are some tips: Johnson believed that the patient is composed of (1) the biological system (medical) and (2) the behavioral system. She believed nursing is concerned with helping the patient regulate and maintain/regain a balance in the behavioral system through assessing the 7 subsystems. The patient is a behavioral system composed of 7 subsystems: affiliation, dependency, ingestive, eliminative, sexual, aggressive, and achievement. If even one subsystem is not in balance the optimal behavior is not being shown by the patient and will result in disequilibrium. The subsystems include aspects that are biological, social, psychological, and cultural and interrelate to one another in the patient. The nurse’s role is to step in to help restore the subsystem(s) to balance -> Goal: to reach the best possible function/equilibrium and foster effective behaviors and functioning of the patient to prevent illness or worsening illness (balance and stability). Nurses should review the 7 subsystems of the patient in question and attempt to balance the ones “out of whack” through regulating the internal/external environments and providing resources to maintain and/or balance the patient’s behavioral system as a whole. Stability and balance of the behavioral system are demonstrated by observed behavior by the patient that is purposeful, orderly, and predictable that maintains their equilibrium overall.  For your initial post: Consider and explain any clinical-practice situation (either one that is real for you or another one) that demonstrates Johnson’s model of health (remember a patient can have multiple subsystems out of whack or just one). Think about the subsystems, either together or one in particular, and explain how the nurse can support/use this theory to return the patient to balance and stability. Remember word counts and to use one scholarly source.