The following plan may help you with your writing this week. Start with uses of the concept with the origin of the word or etymology, then go on with dictionary definitions, and provide parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, etc. Then go on with ways the concept is used in health care and in other disciplines; for instance, medicine, nursing, law, political science, anthropology, social science, economics, theology to name a few. You decide on this, but usually three to four pages of uses is typical for this step. Then go on to construct your attributes based on what you found in the literature about how the concept is used. Again, this is your decision, but four or five attributes are typical as descriiptors for concepts. Once you discuss each attribute and justify their use, summarize them to prepare for the next week’s steps.
As Walker and Avant have suggested, figuring out the defining attributes of your concept is an important part of the concept analysis process. Spend time thinking about which characteristics are essential to your concept. The goal is to have a well-delineated list of attributes, with no duplication. It is best to explore the literature first for direct uses in health care and then in other disciplines too. Exploring the uses is an essential first step to determining attributes. Perhaps your research in other disciplines helps to inform your concept attributes in health care. Use the time to help you discern the attributes of your concept as well. Often a peer sees clearly what is escaping the person moving through a fog.
Write a three- to four-page paper (not including title and reference pages), following the grading rubric closely, for Steps 3 and 4 only
Walker and Avant Method for Concept Analysis Parts 3 and 4
Identify all uses of the concept possible.
Use the dictionary, thesauruses, colleagues, and literature to do so.
Do not limit search to just nursing or medical literature.
Determine four to five defining attributes derived from the definitions and uses described.
