Adam, Evelyn, [b. 1929] a Canadian nursing theorist who applied the structure of a conceptual model for nursing in her book, “Être Infirmière” in 1979 (“To Be a Nurse,” 1980). Adam believes that a theory is useful to more than one discipline, but that a conceptual model for a discipline is useful only to that discipline. A conceptual model consists of assumptions, beliefs and values, and major units. Adam developed Virginia Henderson’s concepts within Dorothy E. Johnson’s structure of a conceptual model. She describes the goal of nursing as maintaining or restoring the client’s independence in the satisfaction of 14 fundamental needs. Each need has biological, physiological, and psychosocial aspects. The nurse complements and supplements the client’s strength, knowledge, and will.
