Grounded Theory and Nursing Knowledge

Grounded theory (GT) is a research approach with origins in the interpretive tradition of symbolic interactionism. Its influence on knowledge generation in nursing began in the 1960s and expanded over the next two decades. By the 1980s, published GT research by nurses had increased greatly in scope and direction. The focus of these studies included adaptations to illness, infertility, nurse adaptations and interventions, and status passages of vulnerable persons and groups. Within the nursing culture, use of GT has been influenced by variations in meanings ascribed to GT, changes in interpretive research practices, and environmental circumstances affecting nurse investigators. The identified theories point to the salient influences of social structure and environment on human health and well-being.