Theorists Background
Betty Neuman was born in 924 in Lowel, Ohio. Bettys father was a farmer who died from the chronic renal disease when she was eleven years old. Bettys mother was a midwife who became the first inspiration for her to devote her life to medicine in general and nursing in particular. Thus, her childhood taught her the value of responsibility and self-reliance that laid the basis for her future nursing career (Betty Neuman, 203).
From the early age, she was interested in the concepts of human behavior. During the World War II, she worked as an aircraft technician but later, she decided to join the Cadet Nursing Corps program focused on providing accelerated nursing education. After eighteen months of training, in 947, she graduated from Peoples Hospital School of Nursing in Akron, Ohio, with honors and obtained the diploma as a Registered Nurse (Betty Neuman, 203).
After visiting her relatives in California, Betty decided to start her career there. She changed multiple professions. She worked as a head nur
se at Los Angeles County General Hospital, a school nurse, an industrial nurse, and a clinical instructor at the University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles (UCLA) specializing in the areas of communicable diseases, critical care, and medical-surgical nursing. In 957, Betty completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) with a double major in psychology and public health from UCLA. In a short time, she married and helped her husband establish his medical practice. Her only child was born in 959 (Betty Neuman, 203).
In 966, Betty completed her Master of Science in public health consultation and mental health from UCLA. In half a year, she was hired as a department chair in the graduate program at UCLA. Her teaching methods were highly evaluated, and she decided to develop a nursing model. She did not write a book at that time yet, but she had already developed her concepts known to Sr. Callista Roy and Joan Riehl-Sisca who mentioned them in their book called Conceptual Models of Nursing Practice in 97.