A Feminist Approach to Theory Evaluation

Despite the new wave of diverse philosophical thoughts in nursing, the criteria for theory evaluation rarely incorporate the new thoughts in its realm. Especially, feminist thoughts, which have contributed to the development of nursing knowledge through incorporating diversities and complexities of nursing phenomenon and reflecting social, cultural, and historical contexts surrounding nursing encounters, were rarely incorporated into the evaluation criteria. In this paper, a feminist approach to theory evaluation is proposed based on a critical analysis of the existing evaluation criteria. First, a historical review of feminist thoughts is provided, and feminist principles across diverse groups of thinking within feminism are discussed. Then, theory evaluation criteria are historically analyzed and critiqued while considering the feminist principles. The critical points found in the currently available theory evaluation criteria include: (a) the evaluation criteria are based on objectivity, (b) they are ignoring gender differences; (c) cultural differences tend not to be seriously considered; and (d) contexts surrounding nursing phenomenon are rarely considered. Based on the critical points, four additional components for theory evaluation are proposed. The components are: (a) respect for subjectivity; (b) historical and sociopolitical contextual considerations; (c) gender sensitivity; (d) cultural competence; and (e) blueprint for action.