09 Jul Johnsons Behavioral Systems Model

Please write a 200-word response for this discussion

Johnsons Behavioral Systems Model

            Johnsons Behavioral Systems model gives nurses in the healthcare setting a tool to apply when assessing and providing interventions for patients. Her theory is based of the patients need for homeostasis and suggests that by monitoring a patients behavior the nurse will be able to provide interventions to help the patient reach homeostasis.

            Johnson believed that patients are to be seen as a collection of behavioral subsystems that interrelate to form the behavioral system. These subsystems have a set of behavioral responses that can be developed and modified through motivation, experience, and learning. She believed that as Nurses one should be able to recognize and teach the patient how to adapt to these environmental factors influencing these behavioral responses.

            As a pediatric nurse you will witness children rapidly move through all of the subsystems of behavior and you learn to adapt the environment to assist these children in their learning to manage these behaviors. On a typical day as a pediatric nurse working in an extended care setting you will not children moving from one subsystem behavior to the next and sometimes even circle back to the previous. It is your responsibility as the nurse caring for these children to help them transition as smoothly as possible from one to the next. The following example are of a typical day at the center for a child who has just been dropped off for their first day at the center.

            Affiliative and aggressive/protective subsystem disturbance, the child begins to cry and search the room with their eyes looking for the family member who just left. To assist this child the nurse must make them feel safe, and that they belong by comforting the child and introducing the child to other children in the play area of the room. Dependency, Eliminative and ingestive subsystem disturbance are witnessed through out the day of multiple children as most of them are still dependent on the nurse to feed them and provide incontinent care. Although, as the children get older the nurse teaches the children to use eating utensils to feed themselves and use the restroom instead of diapers.

            Restorative subsystem- this is achieved during nap time at the center. The nurse provides a calm quit environment and a comfortable place for the child to sleep everyday at the same time. This provides the child with the ability to rest after a full morning of interactions with staff and peers.

            Sexual and Achievement subsystem behavior- at the end of each day the children leave the center with a sense of accomplishment of their day. They have overcome their fear and joined their peers in the classroom. Many of these children learn from one another more than they do from the nurses. This is where sexual comes in, boys tend to group with boys and girls follow the same pattern it is here that they start to develop a self-identity based on their genders.

Holaday, B. (2015). Dorothy Johnson’s Behavioral System Model and its Application. In M. C. Smith, & M. Parker, Nursing Theories and Nursing Practice (pp. 89-104). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.

Please write a 200-word response for this discussion

  Dorothy Johnson considered one of the first grand theorist, and presented her view as a conceptual model (Smith & Parker, 2015). The Behavioral System theory addressed two ideas- understanding the holistic behavioral system process  and an active process of interactions. The core principles are, 1) wholeness and order, 2) stabilization, 3) reorganization, 4) hierarchic interaction, and 5) dialectical contradictions. Johnson was influenced by Florence Nightingales teaching of focusing on the patient instead of the disease. Johnson theory expressed that the fundamentals to any professional discipline is the development of the scientific knowledge used to guide the practice (Smith & Parker, 2015). The Johnsons Behavioral System Model attempts to guides the professional nurse practices, professional education progression, research, in attempts to generate new growth and ideas in the nursing profession. The nursing theory is designed to differentiate the professional nurse from other healthcare professionals.  

            The clinical practice situation of Johnsons Behavioral System Model (JBSM) includes subsystem of attachment or affiliative, dependency, ingestive, eliminative, sexual, aggressive, and achievement. The balance of the subsystem is the end phase and evaluated, but must begin with a medical diagnosis and development of a nursing plan of care. Unfortunately, the theory does not clearly connect the subsystems making it difficult to flow through the behavioral system model nor the definitions are abstract which may create an environment in which the use is difficult to measure. Congestive heart failure affects 20 million individuals worldwide (Youn-Jung et al., 2020). The initial assessment to determine patient subjective perception and understanding of the disease, and the nurse objective understanding of the patients understanding. Confirming the medical diagnosis understanding with patient and family (when appropriate). Planning the diet changes and medication management understanding. Implementation of the diet changes, reduced sodium intake (decrease salt intake), and importance of medication directive. Evaluate the patients understanding and the ability to model the information independently.

            It is essential to support the patients understanding with the use of JBSM. Understanding the process of evaluation will assure patients understanding or lack of understanding. According to Johnsons Behavioral System Model if patient is lacking understanding it is imperative to return to the  forces / stress step and address newly identified stressors or missed stressors and begin the process again. The professional nurse must reinforce the behavioral changes until the patient recovers fully or changes the behavior toward self-care to prevent complications of the illness / disease process. Ideally, the goal is to protect the patient from negative influences, provide a holistic nurturing environment with an end result for stimulating positive growth.

Smith, M., & Parker, M. (2015). Nursing Theories & Nursing Practice (4th ed.). F. A. Davis Company.

Youn-Jung, S., Choi, J., & Hyeon-Ju, L. (2020). Effectiveness of nurse-led heart failure self-care education on health outcomes of heart failure patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18), 6559. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186559