CALLISTA ROY: BIOGRAPHY, THEORY AND WORKS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Callista Roy is a nursing theorist, teacher and religious born in 1939 in the United States. From a very believing family, the influence of her mother, a registered nurse, was fundamental in her later career.

Still very young, at only 14 years old, he went to work in a hospital, although in the food department. She soon changed her role, being promoted to a nursing assistant. During that time she decided to join the Hermanas de San José de Carondelet congregation as a nun.

Source: bc.edu

In the early 1960s, she studied nursing at university. After graduating, she completed a master's degree, which would be essential for the development of her theory. One of her teachers commissioned her to develop a conceptual model of nursing. From that commission was born the Roy Adaptation Model.

The basis of this model is the consideration of the human being as a whole, also influenced by their environment and circumstances. Roy established four spheres that affected each person and affirmed that care should aim to integrate these spheres and care for each patient in a comprehensive way.

Biography

Callista Roy came to the world on October 14, 1939 in Los Angeles, California (USA). She grew up in a devout Catholic family. Thus, she was baptized with the name of the saint who was celebrated on the day of her birth, San Calisto.

Callista's mother was a registered nurse and she was in charge of teaching her daughter the importance of the care that patients need and that a nurse should behave in a totally altruistic way.

First job

When she was only 14 years old, Callista started working in a large hospital. At first, she was in charge of the work in the food warehouse, but was soon promoted to a nursing assistant.

Callista had a strong religious vocation. After pondering it, she decided to join the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, where she still remains.

Nursing studies

In 1963, Sister Callista Roy began studying nursing at Mount Saint Mary's College in Los Angeles. After finishing, in 1966, she completed a master's degree in the same discipline from the University of California.

In addition to these degrees, Roy did another master's degree in sociology in 1973 and a doctorate in the same subject in 1977, both from the University of California.

Create your model

It was precisely when she was completing her master's degree in nursing that she received a commission that changed her life. One of her professors, Dorothy E. Johnson, commissioned her to develop a novel nursing model.

While I was working as a nurse on the pediatric ward. Looking at the environment, he noticed the ability of the little ones to adapt to changes, whether physical or mental. This finding had such an impact that she used it as a conceptual basis for her project.

In this way, Roy started his model in 1968. Two years later, he published his foundations in the Nursing Outlook for Nursing.

The basic principle was that human beings, either individually or as a group, are holistic systems (a complex whole that is influenced by multiple facets) and adaptable.

Career

After the success of her model, Callista Roy saw her career take off. During her professional life, she has been a professor at various universities and has also published a large number of articles and books on the subject. Likewise, she has given countless conferences around the world.

In 1978 Roy was admitted to the American Academy of Nursing. Then, between 1983 and 1985, she worked as a nurse in a neurology clinic belonging to the University of California.

Years later, in 1991, she was the founder of the Boston Based Adaptation Research in Nursing Society, an organization that later became the Roy Adaptation Associations.

Already in the new century, specifically in 2007, Roy was recognized as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing. Currently, she holds the position of professor and theorist at the Boston College School of Nursing, in addition to giving continuous lectures.

His latest research is focused on the effects of interventions on the recovery of cognitive abilities after a minor head injury.

Theory

Actually, the model presented by Callista Roy is what experts call metatheory. This means that it was based on other earlier theories. In this case, she used A. Rapoport's general systems theory and Harry Helson's adaptation theory.

The best definition of her model was given by herself in one of her writings:

“The adaptation model provides a way of thinking about people and their environment that is useful in any environment. It helps to a priority, to care and the challenges of nursing to move the patient to survive the transformation. ”.

Concepts

There are several concepts used by Roy that must be taken into account to understand his theory. The first is that of Person, defined by the author as a holistic and adaptable being. For her, an individual combines the biological, psychological and social spheres. By joining the three, the person will be complete.

The second of the important concepts in the Environment. It is about all the circumstances and influences that surround the person, affecting their behavior and way of thinking. The environment is not static, but changes over time, causing the person to adapt.

Assumptions and values

As previously mentioned, for Roy the human being is a biopsychosocial being that is constantly related to his environment. This relationship is carried out through adaptation that, for the author, must occur in four different spheres:

- Physiological area: it is, in general terms, the one that occurs in human organs, from circulation to food.

- Self-image area: how each one sees himself.

- Role domain area: the roles (or different personalities) that each person fulfills throughout their existence.

- Area of ​​interdependence: relationships with their environment, especially with other people.

Health-disease continuum

Callista Roy stated that the human being is in what he calls the health-disease continuum (or trajectory). This point is not fixed, but can tend towards health at times and, at other times, towards disease.

Everything will depend on the ability of the person to respond to stimuli that come from the environment. If your reaction is positive, it will approximate the state of health. If the opposite happens, you will get sick.

The theorist also stated that health can be modified by various types of stimuli:

- Focal stimuli: sudden changes to be faced.

- Contextual stimuli: all those present in the process, such as room temperature.

- Residual stimuli: memories, which lead to beliefs, that we have from previous experiences.

Nursing functions

Taking into account all of the above, Callista Roy argues that the work of nurses is to promote actions that enable the adaptation of the person in the 4 areas mentioned above. To do this, you must use existing scientific knowledge.

For Roy, the professional must be aware at all times of the patient's responsibility to participate in their own care when they can.

Plays

Apart from the large number of articles that the author has published over the years, her most important bibliography is the following:

- Roy, C. (2009). «Assessment and the Roy Adaptation Model»

- Roy, C. (2008). "Adversity and theory: The broad picture"

- Whittemore, R. & Roy, C. (2002). "Adapting to Diabetes Mellitus: A Theory Synthesis"

References

1. History of nursing. Sister Callista Roy. Obtained from historia-de-enfermeria8.webnode.mx
2. Sub-direction of Nursing. Callista Roy Adaptation Model. Obtained from encolombia.com
3. Díaz de Flores, Leticia et al. Analysis of the concepts of the adaptation model of Callista Roy. Recovered from scielo.org.co
4. Vera, Matt. Sister Callista L. Roy. Retrieved from nurseslabs.com
5. Why I want to be a nurse. Callista Roy. Retrieved from whyiwanttobeanurse.org
6. Reynolds, Candace N. Roy Adaptation Model: Theory Description. Retrieved from nursingtheoryandtheoristsroyorem.weebly.com
7. Petiprin, Alice. Sister Callista Roy - Nursing Theorist. Retrieved from nursing-theory.org