A conceptual framework for a nursing thesis is the map that shows which concepts you study and how you expect them to relate. It is usually built from one nursing model or middle-range theory, adapted to your population, and drawn as a diagram with a short explanation. This guide gives you eight steps, a template for the mapping table, and illustrative mappings for three models that Canadian nursing students often use: Pender’s Health Promotion Model, Roy’s Adaptation Model and Orem’s self-care deficit theory.
Step 1: State the problem and the outcome in one sentence
A framework answers a specific question, so write that question before you pick a model. Name the population, the outcome and the setting. For example (illustrative): “What factors are associated with physical activity among new-graduate nurses working shifts in acute care?” The outcome here is physical activity. Everything in the framework must help explain that outcome.
Step 2: Understand how a conceptual framework differs from a theoretical framework
The two terms are used differently by different programs, so check your faculty’s guide. A common distinction is this: a theoretical framework presents an existing theory and what it says, while a conceptual framework shows how you have adapted that theory, or combined concepts from several sources, to your own study. If your program uses only one term, build one section that does both jobs, and say which model you adopted and how you adapted it. Our guide to conceptual framework examples for a Canadian thesis covers the general distinction across disciplines; this guide is the nursing-specific version.
Step 3: Choose a model that explains your outcome
Match the model to the kind of question you ask, not to the model you remember best from a course. Three illustrations:
- Pender’s Health Promotion Model suits questions about health-promoting behaviours, such as exercise, screening or vaccination uptake. Pender first published it in 1982, and it was revised in 1996 and 2002.
- Roy’s Adaptation Model suits questions about how people adapt to a stressor, a diagnosis or a transition. Sister Callista Roy developed it in 1976.
- Orem’s self-care deficit nursing theory suits questions about self-care and the support a nurse provides when people cannot meet their own needs. Dorothea Orem developed it between 1959 and 2001.
Read the primary sources for the model you choose, such as the model’s own manual or the author’s major book, and cite them. The descriptions in this guide are summaries to help you decide, not a substitute for the originals.
Step 4: List the model’s constructs from the source
Write down the constructs exactly as the model’s author names them. For Pender’s model, the model manual (2011) lists three main groups: individual characteristics and experiences (prior related behaviour and personal factors: biological, psychological and sociocultural); behaviour-specific cognitions and affect (perceived benefits of action, perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, activity-related affect, interpersonal influences, situational influences, commitment to a plan of action, and immediate competing demands and preferences); and behavioural outcomes (health-promoting behaviour).
For Roy’s model, the person is an adaptive system that uses coping to deal with stressors, which Roy calls stimuli and classifies as focal, contextual or residual. She describes four adaptive modes: physiological, self-concept, role function and interdependence. She also describes a six-step nursing process: assessment of behaviour, assessment of stimuli, nursing diagnosis, goal setting, intervention and evaluation.
For Orem’s theory, people have self-care requisites: universal (needs all people have, such as air, water, food, elimination, activity and rest, solitude and social interaction, hazard prevention and promotion of normality), developmental and health-deviation requisites. When a person cannot meet them, a self-care deficit occurs, and the nurse’s support can be total compensation, partial compensation or educative and supportive.
Step 5: Map each construct to a variable in your study
This is the step that turns a textbook model into your framework. Build a table with three columns: the model’s construct, your variable, and how you will measure it. The following mapping for Pender’s model is illustrative. The measurement column names the kind of instrument; select and validate a real one for your own study.
| Model construct (Pender) | Variable in the illustrative study | How it could be measured |
|---|---|---|
| Individual characteristics and experiences | Age, years since graduation, prior exercise habits | Demographic questions |
| Perceived benefits and barriers | Perceived benefits of exercise and perceived barriers such as shift work | A validated benefits-and-barriers scale you select |
| Perceived self-efficacy | Confidence in exercising despite fatigue | An exercise self-efficacy scale you select |
| Interpersonal and situational influences | Support from colleagues and access to a gym near the hospital | Survey items or a short scale |
| Behavioural outcome | Weekly physical activity | A validated physical activity questionnaire you select |
A mapping for Roy’s model works the same way. The table below is illustrative: it imagines a study of adaptation after a first diagnosis, with the diagnosis as the focal stimulus.
| Model construct (Roy) | Variable in the illustrative study |
|---|---|
| Physiological mode | Symptom control |
| Self-concept mode | Body image |
| Role function mode | Return to work |
| Interdependence mode | Family support |
A mapping for Orem’s theory might treat universal self-care requisites such as activity and rest as the variables, with the nurse’s educative and supportive role as the intervention. In each case, the model supplies the structure and your study supplies the measures.
Step 6: Draw the diagram
A conceptual framework diagram needs boxes, arrows and a clear direction. A layout that works for most nursing theses is input, process and output:
| Input | Process | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Individual characteristics and experiences | Perceived benefits, barriers and self-efficacy; interpersonal and situational influences | Physical activity (the outcome) |
Draw the same thing as a figure: one box per construct, an arrow for each relationship you will test, and a label on each arrow if it is a hypothesis. Keep to the relationships your research questions address. A diagram with every arrow between every box says nothing. Use one drawing tool consistently and make sure the text in the figure is readable when printed in black and white.
Step 7: Write the explanation under the diagram
The explanation walks the reader through the diagram in prose. It states the model and its source, names the constructs you kept, states which ones you left out and why, and gives the expected relationships. A model paragraph (illustrative) reads: “This study adapts Pender’s Health Promotion Model to explain physical activity among new-graduate nurses. Individual characteristics and experiences are expected to influence perceived benefits, perceived barriers and perceived self-efficacy, which together with interpersonal and situational influences are expected to be associated with weekly physical activity. Commitment to a plan of action was not measured and is a limitation of the study.” Replace every element with your own.
Step 8: Align the framework with the rest of the thesis
A framework that is not used in the other chapters is decoration. Check that every arrow corresponds to a research question or hypothesis, every variable appears in the instrument or interview guide, and the discussion returns to the framework to say what the results suggest about the model. If you are still choosing your topic, see nursing thesis topics in Canada; if you need to see how the framework fits into a whole thesis, read what a complete nursing thesis looks like. If your design is a literature-based one, the systematic review thesis guide explains how frameworks work when there is no primary data collection.
Which construct should I add when the model does not cover my variable?
Models are broad, and your study may need a variable they do not name. Add it explicitly and justify it with a source: for example, if your study of new-graduate nurses includes a stress-related variable, you might add resilience and say that you are extending the model. Our guide to resilience as a variable in a thesis shows how to define a construct and select a scale. State clearly which parts of the framework come from the model and which parts are your own additions, so that an examiner can see what the original theory predicts and what you are testing.
What should I check before I submit the framework?
- Source: is the model cited to its primary source, with the edition or year you used?
- Constructs: does every construct in the diagram appear in the text, and the reverse?
- Variables: does every construct map to a variable, and every variable to a measure?
- Arrows: does every arrow correspond to a research question or hypothesis?
- Additions and omissions: have you said what you added to the model and what you left out?
- Consistency: do the terms in the diagram match the terms in the instrument, results and discussion?
What are the most common mistakes?
- Choosing a model by popularity. Pick one that explains your outcome.
- Naming a model and never using it. Every construct you keep must appear in your variables, instrument and analysis.
- Copying the author’s diagram. Redraw it for your own study and cite the source.
- Drawing arrows you do not test. A diagram implies hypotheses.
- Relying only on summaries. Use the model’s primary source and cite it, not only a textbook or a web page.
Where Tesify fits
When your framework is mapped, the chapters around it still need to be written and aligned. Tesify helps you structure and organise your thesis. 9,000+ students have written 15,000+ chapters with Tesify, and the text stays 100% written by you.
Frequently asked questions
What is a conceptual framework in a nursing thesis?
It is a diagram and explanation showing which concepts you study and how you expect them to relate, usually adapted from a nursing model or theory.
What is the difference between a conceptual and a theoretical framework?
A theoretical framework presents an existing theory; a conceptual framework shows how you have adapted it, or combined concepts, for your study. Programs use the terms differently, so check your guide.
Which nursing model should I choose?
The one that explains your outcome: Pender for health-promoting behaviours, Roy for adaptation to a stressor or transition and Orem for self-care and the support nurses give.
Can I use more than one model?
You can, but each additional model needs a reason. Many theses use one main model and add a few constructs from other sources, stated explicitly.
How many constructs should the framework have?
Include only the constructs your research questions address. A framework with fewer, well-measured constructs is easier to defend.
Do I need a diagram?
Most nursing programs expect one. It should show the constructs and the relationships you will test, with a short written explanation.
Where do I find the original source for a nursing model?
Search your library for the model’s author and the manual or book where the model is set out, and cite that rather than a summary.
Is a conceptual framework needed for a qualitative thesis?
Many qualitative designs use a framework to sensitise the study, though not to test hypotheses. Ask your supervisor which form your program expects.
How do I link the framework to my instrument?
Map each construct to a variable and each variable to an instrument or interview question in a table, then use the same table in the methods chapter.
Where do I discuss the framework in the discussion chapter?
Return to it after the findings and say which relationships the data supported, which they did not, and what that suggests about the model for your population.