Contributor: Jacquelyn Fawcett
October 10, 2020

Authors – Nancy Roper, RN, MPhil; Winifred Logan, RN, MS; and Alison J. Tierney, RN, PhD

First published – 2000

Typology

Conceptual model of nursing

Major Concepts and Brief Description

The Roper, Logan, and Tierney (2000) Model of Nursing based on Activities of Living “is an attempt to identify only the main features of . . . the nature of living . . . [taking into account] knowledge from the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities” (Roper, Logan, & Tierney, 2000, p. 13).

Activities of Living (ALs) – The ALs are what constitute “everyday living activities” (Roper, Logan, & Tierney, 2000, p. 14) . Roper et al. (2000) indicated that the ALs are more commonly referred to as the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) in the United States. They identified 12 ALs.

1. Maintaining a safe environment
2. Communicating
3. Breathing
4. Eating food and drinking fluids
5. Eliminating body wastes
6. Personal cleansing and dressing
7. Controlling body temperature
8. Mobilizing
9. Working and playing
10. Expressing sexuality
11. Sleeping
12. Dying

Lifespan — “[L]iving is concerned with the whole of a person’s life . . from birth to death” (Roper et al. 2000, p, 55)

Dependence/Independence Continuum — The continuum ranges from total dependence to total independence, exists for each AL throughout the lifespan, and changes as the person ages as well as if some event or health condition or other circumstance requires a temporary or permanent change.

Influences on ALs – factors that affect the performance of ALs at any time during the lifespan. Each influence on one or more ALs. can be a positive influence, which is a facilitator that supports and enhances the AL(s), or can be a negative influence, which is a barrier that may be a potential or actual health hazard. Roper et al. (2000) identified five interrelated influences on ALs.

1. Biological
2. Psychological
3. Sociocultural
4. Environmental
5. Politico-Economic

Individuality in Living – Emphasizes how the ALs, Dependence/Independence Continuum, and Influences on ALs are “experienced by each individual” (Roper et al., 2000, p. 75)

Primary Source

Roper, N., Logan, W., & Tierney, A. J. (2000). The Roper-Logan-Tierney model of nursing: Based on activities of living. Churchill Livingstone.

Other Sources

Holland, K., & Jenkins, J. (Eds.). (2019). Applying the Roper-Logan-Tierney model in practice (3^rd ed.). Elsevier.      

Williams, B. C. (2017). The Roper-Logan-Tierney model of nursing. Nursing2017CriticalCare, 12(1), 17-20. https://journals.lww.com/nursingcriticalcare/Fulltext/2017/01000/The_Roper_Logan_Tierney_model_of_nursing.5.aspx0.1097/01.CCN.0000508630.55033.1c  

Authors

Nancy Roper, RN, MPhii (1918-2004)

Nancy Roper’s “initial training was as a registered sick children’s nurse (gaining a gold medal at Booth Hall Hospital, Manchester). [She then] trained as a state registered (adult) nurse in 1943, winning student nurse medals at Leeds General Infirmary. Roper was called up to the Territorial Army as a nurse teacher, in World War II, although teaching was a reserved occupation. Her next role was as a teaching staff nurse, and then senior tutor at Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, following completing a sister tutor diploma from London University in 1950” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Roper).

Nancy Roper served for 15 years as Principal Tutor in a school of nursing in England circa late 1940s through the 1950s. She turned to writing and editing full-time in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, she studied for a MPhil degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She went on to become first Nursing Research Officer at the Scottish Home and Health Department (1974-1978). Her MPhil research became the basis for her collaboration with Winifred Logan and Alison Tierney, which resulted in writing the book, The Elements of Nursing, published in 1980. Further development of the ideas in that book became the 2000 book, The Roper-Logan-Tierney Model of Nursing Based on Activities of Living. (Roper, Logan, & Tierney, 2000; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Roper)

Winifred Logan, RN: Master’s Degree (May 9, 1931- 2010)

Winifred Logan holds a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh, where she also initially trained as a nurse, and another master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City (1966) .For 12 years (1960-1970s) she held a senior faculty position in the Department Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh, then held positions as Nurse Education Officer in the Scottish Office, Executive Director of the International Council of Nursing (1978-1980), and Head of the Department of Health and Nursing at Glasgow Caledonian University. Her honors include honorary degrees from two universities and University of Edinburgh Honorary Fellow (1996). (Roper, Logan, Tierney, 2000; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winifred_W._Logan)

Alison J. Tierney, RN, PhD (May 4, 1948 – )

Alison Tierney ”was one of the first graduates (1971) of the Integrated Degree/Nursing programme at The University of Edinburgh [with] a Bachelor of Science [degree in] (Social Sciences – Nursing). [She is one of the first nurses in the United Kingdom to hold] a PhD degree in nursing {University of Edinburgh, 1976}.. . . She “first joined the staff of the Department of Nursing Studies at The University of Edinburgh as a lecturer and eventually received a Personal Chair in Nursing Research in October 1997. For a 10-year period in the middle she was Director of the government-funded Nursing Research Unit that was based there. After a final period as Head of Nursing Studies, [she] left in 2002 to join the University of Adelaide in South Australia as Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Nursing, and as Director of the South Australian Center of The Joanna Briggs Institute at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. She remains affiliated [with] to the University of Adelaide as an adjunct professor. . . . She has held Visiting professor appointments at various universities, including King’s College London and the Fudan University in Shanghai, China. For five years (2006-2011) she was a Non-Executive Director of NHS Lothian. She has undertaken consultancies for UK Nursing Schools’ preparations for the 2014 and now the 2021 Research Excellence Framework” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_J._Tierney)

Alison Tierney ”is a Fellow (1995) of the Royal College of Nursing. For her achievements in the field of nursing research and education she was awarded a CBE {Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire] in 2002. She has received honorary doctoral degrees from Edinburgh Napier University in 2004, the University of Turku in Finland in 2006, Queen Margaret University in 2011 and in July 2018 the University of Edinburgh awarded her the honorary degree of Doctor honoris causa. . . . [Also in] 2018 she was named as one of 70 of the most influential nurses in the 70 years of the NHS (National Health Service)” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_J._Tierney)
Alison Tierney served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing from 2003 until circa 2015.