The use of the concept of transition in different disciplines within health and social welfare: An integrative literature review.

Ulrika Lindmark,Eleonor I Fransson,Anders Broström,Anna Sandgren,Maria Henricsson,Jan Mårtensson,Sofia Kjellström,Nina Gunnarsson,Bengt Fridlund,Pia H Bülow,Inger Ahlstrand,Helén Rönning

doi:10.1002/nop2.249

Abstract

AimsTo continuing the quest of the concept of transition in nursing research and to explore how the concept of transition is used in occupational therapy, oral health and social work as well as in interdisciplinary studies in health and welfare, between 2003–2013.DesignAn integrative literature review.MethodsPubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, DOSS, SocIndex, Social Science Citation Index and AMED databases from 2003–2013 were used. Identification of 350 articles including the concept of transition in relation to disciplines included. Assessment of articles are in accordance to Meleis' typologies of transition by experts in each discipline. Chosen key factors were entered into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).ResultsMeleis' four typologies were found in all studied disciplines, except development in oral health. The health‐illness type was the most commonly explored, whereas in social work and in occupation therapy, situational transitions dominated.

Highlights

In nursing research, transition has been described as the “passage from one life phase, condition, or status to another,” as “periods in be‐ tween fairly stable states” (Chick & Meleis, 1986, p. 238) and as “pro‐ cesses that occur over time,” which can be divided “into stages and phases” (Schumacher & Meleis, 1994, p. 121)
Kralik, Visentin, and Van Loon (2006) noted anthropology as the discipline where transition historically has been described. This makes the concept of transition adaptable and interesting to other disciplines in health and wel‐ fare such as occupational therapy, oral health and social work (Munck, Björklund, Jansson, Lundberg, & Wagman, 2018)
This analysis continues the quest of Kralik et al (2006) beyond the mere scoop of nursing research by exploring how the concept of transition is used in occupational therapy, oral health and social work, as well as in nursing and interdisciplinary studies

Summary

Introduction

Transition has been described as the “passage from one life phase, condition, or status to another,” as “periods in be‐ tween fairly stable states” (Chick & Meleis, 1986, p. 238) and as “pro‐ cesses that occur over time,” which can be divided “into stages and phases” (Schumacher & Meleis, 1994, p. 121). From the work of vari‐ ous researchers, transition has been presented as a central concept in the discipline of nursing for the last four decades, (Meleis, 1975; Suva et al, 2015). During this period of time, the components of transition have been identified and described (Chick & Meleis, 1986), expanded by one additional typology (Schumacher & Meleis, 1994) and the con‐ cept has been further extended and redefined (Meleis, Sawyer, Im, Messias, & Schumacher, 2000)—all in nursing research. In their work, Schumacher and Meleis, (1994 added organizational tran‐ sitions as the fourth type of transition, which represents “changes in the wider social, political, or economic environment or by intraorgani‐ zational changes in structure or dynamics” (p. 21)

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