Application of Roy’s Adaptation Model in Clinical Nursing: A Systematic Review

Adaptation is a process in which a person is actively involved for a period of time and uses different strategies. Roy’s adaptation model sees individuals as an adaptive system in a stable interaction with internal and external environment; therefore, they constantly change and try to adapt. When the individual does not make the desired adaptation and hence ineffective responses, nurses learn about it. The present study aimed to systematically review the studies conducted in Iran on the Roy’s adaptation model.

This is a systematic review study, and it has been done purposefully by focusing on research purpose. A computerized search was performed systematically with no time limitation till October 2021, by using keywords: Roy’s adaptation model, Nursing and Iran in Web of Sciences, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, IranDoc, SID and Magiran databases. The articles were evaluated using the Consort checklist. A total of 235 articles were found, and the systematic review of the articles was performed based on PRISMA. Finally, full text of 34 suitable articles were selected and analyzed after several steps of evaluation.

Out of the reviewed articles, 23.52% were published in international journals in English and 76.47% were published in Iranian journals in Persian and English. All the articles were original researches and intervention studies that 5.88, 47.05, 41.17, and 5.88% of them were experimental, quasi-experimental, clinical trial, and randomized controlled trials, respectively. Also, in all the studies pre-test and post-test were used, 5.88, 88.23, and 5.88% of them utilized random, availability, and block sampling, respectively.

Application of care program based on the Roy’s adaptation model increased physical and psychological adaptive (healthy) behaviors in patients with chronic diseases, which might improve the patients’ psychological adaptation to the disease, proper disease control, reduction of complications, and quality of nursing care.