Structural Components of the Behavioral Subsystems of Johnson's Behavioral System Model (Research Paper Sample)

Johnson and Orlando Theory
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Johnson and Orlando Theory
Johnson's behavioral system model of health emphasizes effective behavioral functioning by the patient to prevent illness and underlines how vital research-based knowledge on the influence of nursing care on patients is (Gonzalo, 2019). Johnson also posited that each person has a patterned and repetitive manner of action that entails a behavioral system unique to that person. This model comprises seven behavioral subsystems, and one to be looked at in this essay is affiliation.
Affiliation/attachment behavioral subsystem entails social attachment, intimacy, and establishing a strong social bond. This subsystem is considered vital since it is the foundation of every social organization and plays an essential role in developing a sense of survival and security within an individual (Fawcett, 2018). According to Marlaine (2015), the main aims of the affiliative subsystem comprise the formation of cooperative and interdependent role connections within human social systems, developing and utilizing interpersonal skills in attaining intimacy and inclusion, and forming relations with other individuals in a definitive manner. Johnson further outlined that for this subsystem to be effective, there is a need to protect it from the harmful influences that the system cannot address. Also, it is crucial to stimulate the subsystem to spur growth and protect it from stagnation.
The nurse can utilize this theory to alter the patient's situation and return them to balance and stability. One can be presented with a patient who has a condition such as bipolar disorder. The unusual shifts in moods may make the patient lose important social connections, hence developing a feeling that people are shunning them, which may lead to feeling lonely and abandoned. In such a situation, the nurse can resort to one of the affiliative subsystem's aspects: developing and using interpersonal and social skills to achieve intimacy and inclusion. Research has indicated that some bipolar patients fall short of social and interpersonal skills, which triggers a feeling that they are not in control of their social lives. That's why they end up losing people they deem important to them (Wheeler, 2015). The nurse can help the patient learn essential social and interpersonal skills that have been vital in assisting such patients in managing their moods, thus maintaining intimacy and inclusion.
As Marlaine (2015 further stated, each subsystem contains three major structural components that are interrelated; goal, set, and choice. The nurse can apply these structural components to guide the process of returning the bipolar patient to a state of balance and stability. The goal structural component describes the desired outcomes of the patient’s behavior. In this case, the desired outcome would be developing interpersonal and social skills that help the patient maintain social interactions with other people without pushing them away and subsequently developing a feeling of loneliness and abandonment. Additionally, the behavioral set component enables the patient to act in a certain way in a given situation. Generally, it is meant to instill a stable behavioral pattern of reactions to any stimuli. The nurse can assist the bipolar patient to develop positive responses to any stimuli that may have initially prom