The self-care deficit nursing theory is a health-related theory that was developed by Dorothea E. Orem and focused on necessities and the requirements needed for the health matters of an individual. The theory of Dorothea encourages the independence of a person as far as health is concerned. Generally, a nurse is requirement to an individual if they lack the ability to meet their health care responsibilities. The theory fragmented into three theories that are connected to each other; theory of self-care, the method of self-care deficit and theory of nursing systems. The self-care deficit specifies when a patient needs nursing. It is hinged on helping; acting for and towards others. The paper expounds the self-care theory and how it incorporates the metaparadigm concepts.

A metaparadigm is a collection of theories that structure the functionality of a discipline. The nursing discipline, the theory utilizes four concepts include the personality of the patients, their health, their environment and the responsibilities of nursing.  Generally, the environment is the dwelling and the surrounding of an individual. The environment plays a key role in the integrated system and impacts the health of an individual greatly. Therefore, the environment is modifiable to meet the health care needs of an individual.

The theory of self-care entails the set of practical activities that an individual can perform on his/her behalf to improve their health, life, and holistic wellbeing. It also utilizes the self-agency that involves engagement in self-care as dependent to age, life experience or developmental state. The therapeutic self-care demands are the personal care actions that are performed for a period of time to meet some self-care requirements. The theory focuses on the person and deals with self. The person is the patient in quest of nursing care. The person at some instances is capable of self-care, but at the time there are developmental and universal deviations that demand the availability of nursing care. As a nursing metaparadigm, the environment is the context of the existence of an individual. The self-care theory is based on the claim of the presence of a relationship between the environment and the self-care behavior of an individual. The environment entails the weather and family structure.

The health of an individual is the wellness of a person’s physical, as well as both social and mental operations. The health of a person has a direct connection with their environment and self-care behavior. For instance, a patient who has cancer needs to be surrounded by supportive people for their health to improve and remain happy. The care and support help the patient to avoid the thoughts of self-neglect when the loved are taking of them as required. The self-care also helps the patients to stay away from things that affect the health negatively. These include unhealthy diets and smoking.

Lastly, nursing includes the activities that the professionals in the health sector engage in providing care to the people with health deviations and can’t perform self-care. The self-care theory addresses the nursing component by breaking it into different terms such as the nursing problem as well as the nursing client. Besides that nursing process, as well as the nursing therapeutics, are inclusive. Nursing is applied to enhance the knowledge of an individual for the shaping of self-care behavior. Therefore, the concepts of metaparadigm cannot be divorced from the theory of self-care.