Imogene King’s System Interaction Model
Theory of Goal Attainment

Introduction Imogene King is a nationally recognized theorist, leader and educator. She developed the Theory of Goal Attainment while trying to outline content for a new graduate program (Leddy & Pepper, 2006). It has become the basis for establishing health care goals for patients and directing patient care. The main purpose of the theory is to help patients attain, maintain or restore health. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Imogene King and the theory of goal attainment, including all three levels. The Theory of Goal Attainment identifies three levels found in the environment: personal, interactional and social. The primary level is the personal …show more content…

The third level of theory of goal attainment is the social level. This level includes large groups such as the government, the health care system or society in general (Catalano, 2006). Some common goals at this level is organization, authority, power, status and dicisions. An example of this would be Medicare or Medicaid payments. The amount of reimbursement may limit how often a patient can seek health care. Interaction across all these levels influence human behavior and subsequently health outcomes (Fitzpatrick & Wallace, 2006).
Conclusion
Imogene King’s assumptions about humans, values and beliefs about nursing have not changed in 60 years and will not change in the future. The way that people relate and communicate and interact will change due to the rapid advancement of technologies. Technology alone will not prepare nurses for the future. Understanding the theory of goal attainment will continue to help health care teams identify the needs and set goals for patients to reach optimum wellness.
King helped move nursing process from method to theory. Nursing method consists of assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing and then evaluating. Nursing theory involves interrelated concepts of perception, communication, interaction, decision making about goals, agreeing to attain goals, transactions between the nurse and patient and attaining goals, if not why (King,