Toward Development of a Middle-Range Theory of Psychological Adaptation in Death and Dying

Abstract

This paper presents a middle-range theory of psychological adaptation in death and dying that was abstracted from a series of quantitative and qualitative studies. The findings from these studies are described, a conceptual definition for end-of-life psychological adaptation is given, evidence is synthesized into a limited number of assumptions, testable hypotheses are derived, and the constructed middle-range theory is linked to the conceptual-theoretical framework of the Roy adaptation model.