Notes (II) for a 2010 introduction to the Health Career Model

... Where to start?

By its very nature as already suggested Hodges' model is difficult to explain. There are so many elements that demand our attention and so many avenues to run. Despite revealing one heading to be followed, Murphy (2002) describes how a theory of concepts is still elusive. From this we might focus purely on nursing and take a professional stance. We should be able after all to assume solid grounds for the system that supports nursing: namely nurse education. There is no need to do this as existing theories of concepts can provide a vehicle for explanation and research of Hodges' model.

Frequently acknowledged as a science AND an art, the individual-group axis in Hodges' model and the accent on communication makes individual and group psychology as much a pivotal source of knowledge as human anatomy and physiology. There are differences in the methods of verification, but the dependency is there and evident in the core nursing curriculum. Even though psychology remains a young science, resort to psychology is advantageous in other respects as the development of cognitive science and computer science can also inform our thought and research on Hodges' model. Fundamental to this is the basic form of the model construct the 2 x 2 matrix.

There are a great multitude of models that take this 2 x 2 matrix form. Apart from mathematics examples one the most commonly cited and influential is the so-called Johari window model of Harry Ingham and Joseph Luft which dates from 1955. Luft and Ingham were psychologists who created their model at the University of California, Los Angeles, while researching group dynamics. The Johari model has found a home in soft systems problems and can now be found in many other variations and one-off examples. There are whole books devoted to the subject of '2 x 2', an acknowledgment indeed of their utility and ubiquity (Lowy and Hood, 2004). From the OHP transparencies of old to the latest data projection forms, the 2 x 2 matrix is the tool of choice in the management consultant's armamentarium. This special cognitive device can also serve the local and global health and social care community.

Ref:
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Matrix-Thinking-Decisions-Management/dp/0787972924

The Power of the 2 x 2 Matrix - at Wiley

Additional links:

http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2008/02/big-book-of-concepts.html
[ Murphy, G. L. (2002). The big book of concepts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ]

http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2010/02/notes-for-2010-introduction-to-health.html