Health Promotion and Project Plan

The transition experience starts before an event and has an ending point. The underlying concepts related to the nature of and responses to change, facilitating the change experience along with promoting wellbeing throughout the change event is what supports the use of the Transitions Theory. Meleis’ transition theory framework guides effective care prior to, during and after care transition. This middle-range theory of transitions developed by Meleis provides a broad view of transitions comprised of three components which include the nature and condition of transition and the patterns of response to transition (Meleis, Sawyer, Im, Messias, & Schumacher, 2000). The nature of transitions includes the types, patterns and component of transitions throughout the experience. There are several types of transitions which can occur and although described distinctly, they are often occurring simultaneously and interact among each other. These types of transitions consist of developmental (adolescence, retirement), situational (change in professional role or nursing home placement), health/illness (diagnosis of disease, injury or transition between levels of the care continuum), and organizational (changes in structure or dynamics). Meleis’ mid-range transition theory has potential application to care transitions as patients are discharged from acute care hospitals to their homes, rehabilitation settings, or long-term care facilities. Each component of the model is relevant to these types of transitions. Application of Meleis’ theory directs focus and consideration of context and environmental elements during changes in health status with a goal to anticipate vulnerability for our patients (Malley & Kenner, 2016).