Abstract
This paper is about Imogene King and her Theory of Goal Attainment. This paper details the components of the theory as well as practical application of those components today. Goal setting and patient education are discussed in relation to King’s theory. The role of the nurse as educator is explained. The importance of King’s theory and practical application of that theory is displayed.
Imogene King was not only involved in nursing for 60 years, but she was a leader in nursing right from her start in the diploma program at St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing, St. Louis, Missouri. King saw nursing as a challenge. She credits her Jesuit education, her perception of personal and professional challenges, and her goal setting personality as her stimulus. In an article about her development of the Theory of Goal Attainment she stated, “I could cite examples throughout my life and nursing career, where negative events occurred and were never perceived as adversity, but as personal or professional challenges. The fact is that in early childhood, I learned how to set goals and the means to achieve them. When goals were not achieved, I analyzed why and tried to attain them with different strategies, or set a new goal” (Clarke, 2009). Challenges were never referred to as adversity by King.
Imogene King was born in 1923 in West Point Iowa. She became a nurse in 1945 after receiving her nursing diploma. Continuing her education King completed her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from St. Louis University in 1948, and obtained her Masters in Nursing in 1957. After being a nurse for approximately 15 years, King began to introduce the development of her nursing theory. Her desire was to aid nurses with the development of goals for patients from a nursing theory perspective instead of a medical perspective. During the development of her theory she earned her doctoral degree in education from Teacher’s College,
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