Values Clarification in Nursing: Theory and Practice
This paper reviews Uustal's "Values Clarification in Nursing: Application to Practice," arguing that the article retains significant relevance for contemporary nursing. The paper explores the core premise that values are action-generating beliefs, not merely passive convictions, and examines Uustal's seven-step values clarification process. It highlights two key insights: first, that values are mutable and must be continuously re-evaluated in response to changing circumstances; and second, that alternatives must always exist within a nurse's value framework. The paper concludes by emphasizing the ethical importance of considering the consequences of value-driven actions, connecting this principle to foundational ethics in the nursing profession.
- Introduction and Continuing Relevance: Uustal's article remains relevant to nursing practice
- Values as Drivers of Action: Values defined as beliefs that generate repeated action
- The Mutability of Values: Values change with experience and must be re-evaluated
- Applying the Seven-Step Framework to Practice: Seven-step process guides ethical, consequentialist nursing decisions
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its analysis in a specific theoretical framework — Uustal's seven-step values clarification process — and consistently returns to it, giving the review clear intellectual focus.
- It balances summary with evaluation, not only describing the article's claims but assessing why they remain relevant to contemporary nursing practice.
- The closing connection between consequentialist reasoning and core nursing ethics principles demonstrates the ability to link a theoretical concept to a broader disciplinary context.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models critical article review by identifying the central argument, isolating specific components of the framework (e.g., Step 3 on alternatives, the consequences step), and evaluating each for its practical and ethical significance. This selective close reading allows the writer to move beyond mere description toward analytical engagement with the source material.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by establishing the article's enduring relevance, then defines values clarification's core premise (values produce action). It then addresses the mutability of values as a second major insight, and closes with a detailed look at the seven-step framework's most important steps — particularly the requirement for alternatives and the consequentialist consideration of actions. Each paragraph builds on the previous one, creating a coherent analytical arc.
Introduction and Continuing Relevance
There is still a great degree of relevance found in Uustal's "Values Clarification in Nursing: Application to Practice," despite the fact that it was written some time ago. This relevance pertains to the nursing profession and to both theoretical and practical components of performing this job. Specifically, the article's approach to the correlation between a nurse's values and his or her actions is of extreme importance today — as much, if not more so, than it was when the article was first published. In this respect, the author is able to get to the essence of what shapes how nurses administer treatment and interact with their patients overall, and to explain it to the reader in a way that is both lucid and informative.
Values as Drivers of Action
The crux of the article is the notion of values clarification, which is a seven-step process the author advocates to help clarify the parameters pertaining to values. Those parameters are extremely relevant to nursing in contemporary times because they help distinguish fully formed values from those that are not. One of the most important facets of this clarification is the fact that, ultimately, values are ideas that engender action. If one simply holds a series of beliefs or convictions that do not influence one's actions, then they are not truly values. Uustal makes the point that values are not only tenets upon which people base actions, but that they are reusable in the sense that one can repeatedly make the same decisions and produce the same actions simply from a careful consideration of one's values.
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