DNP 815 reflective analysis: a nursing philosophy
A philosophy that nobody could disagree with is not a philosophy. The test is whether yours would lead you to act differently from a colleague who holds a different one.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 15, 2026
A philosophy is a position, not a list of values
The worldview questions are the route in, and they are asked in a specific order for a reason: what you believe about the person, then about the environment, then about how that shapes your approach to patients. Answer them as positions rather than as values. Holistic care and treating the whole person are not positions, because no one argues for the opposite — they are the vocabulary everybody uses, and a paper built on them is indistinguishable from every other paper in the cohort. A real position is one a colleague could reject: that autonomy outranks clinical benefit when they conflict, or that health is a social product rather than an individual achievement. The reflective analysis framing also matters, since this is not a philosophy paper written in the abstract. It is a case report component, so the philosophy has to be visible in an account of practice rather than stated before one.
The test for whether you have written a philosophy is behavioural. Would someone holding a different one act differently in a specific situation you could describe? If not, you have written a values statement. So build the paper around a case where your position actually decided something — a family wanting treatment the patient had declined, a discharge you judged unsafe against a patient's clear preference, a colleague's approach you disagreed with and why. Connect the position to a named nursing theory where it genuinely fits, since the theories are alternative accounts of what nursing is for and locating yourself among them is a doctoral-level move rather than a decorative citation. Be honest where your practice does not match your stated philosophy, because that gap is the most interesting thing a reflective analysis can contain and pretending it does not exist is what makes these papers uniform.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Distinguish a philosophical position from a values statement.
- 02Test a philosophy by whether it would change behaviour.
- 03Locate a personal position among established nursing theories.
- 04Identify honestly where practice and stated philosophy diverge.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01Positions on the person and the environment that could be disputed.
- 02An account of how the worldview shapes patient approach.
- 03A case where the position decided something.
- 04A connection to a named nursing theory.
- 05An honest note where practice and philosophy diverge.
Worldview, philosophy, then the case
The individual person
State a central belief about the person that could be disputed.
The environment
Define what counts as environment and why that matters.
How this shapes your approach
Trace the position into specific clinical behaviour.
The case
Give an occasion where the philosophy decided something.
Where you fall short
Identify a gap between stated philosophy and actual practice.
Nursing theory as a source of vocabulary
Recommended databases
- CINAHL
- PubMed Central
- Your course theory readings
- Nursing theory collections
Search sequence
- 1.Read two nursing theories that disagree with each other about the person.
- 2.Find which one your instinctive position is closest to.
- 3.Look for a case in your own practice where the position was tested.
- 4.Check how the theory you cite defines environment specifically.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Trends and Hotspots in Nursing Theory Research Published from 1990 to 2022
Journal of Nursing Management · 2024
A bibliometric account of nursing theory research, useful for locating a personal position among established theories.
- 02
Self-care deficit nursing theory
Wikipedia · 2025
One established theory with an explicit account of the person and the nurse's role, which is a concrete position to agree or disagree with.
- 03
Standards and Evaluation of Healthcare Quality, Safety, and Person-Centered Care
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
On person-centred care as a standard, which is where a philosophy of the person meets an operational expectation.
- 04
Social Determinants of Health - Healthy People 2030
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2025
The determinants framework, which is one substantive answer to what constitutes the environment.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Writing values nobody would contest and calling them a philosophy.
- Naming a nursing theory without letting it do any work.
- Omitting a case, leaving the philosophy untested.
- Claiming perfect consistency between belief and practice.
Submission checklist
- Could a thoughtful colleague disagree with your position?
- Would someone with a different philosophy act differently in your case?
- Does the theory you cite actually match your position?
- Have you named a divergence between belief and practice?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.