Internal Dimensions The internal dimensions of a theory act as guidelines to describe a theory to enhance understanding of the approaches used to evolve it and in identifying gaps in the theory. The first dimension is the rationale on which the theory is built. The components of the theory of self-transcendence are united in a chain-link and it is based on certain sets of relationships that are deduced from a small set of basic principles and are therefore hierarchical in nature. The second dimension to consider is that of the system of relations. In the theory of self-transcendence, the elements explain relations. The content of the theory is a third internal dimension (). Content is distinguished by the range of laws and group of individuals …show more content…
There are many basic problems in nursing or any of its specialties is addressed by that theory of self-transcendence. The significance of the theory of self-transcendence increases as its scope broadens and generality (). The scope and purpose of Reed’s theory are such that the theory can be applied to a wide variety of human health situations. Therefore, as already noted, the theory of self-transcendence is middle-range theory and has a wide application scope in dementia, cancer, AIDS, homeless, stem cell transplantation, depression, and elderly (). However, the major criticism of middle-range theories is that they lead to fragmentation of a discipline when the discipline has no agreed-on phenomenon (). The sixth dimension is the goal of a theory, the self-transcendence theory was constructed to prescribe. Thus, the original purpose of the self-transcendence theory is to enhance nurses’ understanding of well-being among individuals across the lifespan and in all contexts (Reed, …show more content…
The theory is basically concatenated and has a hypothetical constructive beginning, evolving from the synthesis of concepts from a number of fields, the core of which are a number of concepts that are central to nursing. The relationships between concepts are still at a tentative stage. It has several irreducible units and it is a microtherapy in content and wide in scope, as it purports to describe lifespan. The theory does not offer conceptual guidelines for knowledge of disorder or control. The scope of Reed’s theory is broad, and it has the potential to encompass the phenomena of the nursing domain. It articulates the central phenomena, it defines different patterns of nurse-patient