Virginia Henderson and Myra Levine

Virginia Henderson and Myra Levine focused their nursing metaparadigm based on person, environment, health, and nursing in similar but different ways. Henderson believed that a person was one of a kind, had basic needs, and that the mind and body are inseparable.   Henderson stated that individuals require assistance to achieve health and independence or a peaceful death (Nursing Theory, 2013).   Henderson also believed that the person consisted of biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual components. Henderson viewed the patient as someone who needs nursing care but not limited to illness.   Levine viewed people as holistic individuals who constantly strive to preserve wholeness and integrity (Nursing Theory, 2013).
Both theorists view environment in similar but different ways.   Henderson believed that the environment was effected by external and internal sources.   She believed that basic nursing care should create an environment that allows the patient to function as independently as possible.   The environment includes all outside factors that affect how one functions and develops.   Levine viewed the person as a whole with regards to their environment and how the person adapted to changes within their environment (Nursing Theory, 2013).   Levine based the environment on internal and external factors.   Levine believed the internal environment is the integration of bodily functions that resembles a stabilized flow (homeorrhesis) rather than a static state (homeostasis) and is subject to challenges of the external environment, which always are a form of energy (Nursing Theory, 2013).   Levine divided the external environment into the perceptual, operational, and conceptual environments (Nursing Theory, 2013).
Henderson defined health based on the individual’s ability to function independently based on her 14 components of basic nursing care (Henderson, 2006).   Henderson also believed it was the nurses’ responsibility to stress health promotion,...