Complexity theory as an approach to explanation in healthcare: A critical discussion

The reception of complexity theory in health care is characterised by a tendency to reify the idea of a complex system, which is basically an abstraction. This paper argues for three principal theses: first, to invoke complexity, to refer to complex systems, is to proffer a form of explanation; seco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of nursing studies Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 269 - 279
Main Authors Paley, John, Eva, Gail
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2011
Elsevier Limited
Subjects
Cancer
Complex systems
Complexity
Complexity theory
Delivery of Health Care
Explanation
Families & family life
Health care
Nursing
Nursing Theory
Ontology
Social mechanisms
Social sciences
Social theory
Systems
Social theory
Ontology
Explanation
Systems
Cancer
Complexity
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Summary:The reception of complexity theory in health care is characterised by a tendency to reify the idea of a complex system, which is basically an abstraction. This paper argues for three principal theses: first, to invoke complexity, to refer to complex systems, is to proffer a form of explanation; second, in the context of the social sciences, the form of explanation that complexity represents belongs to a family of explanations which the recent theoretical literature associates with social mechanisms; and, third, complexity explanations refer to a specific type of social mechanism, whose features differentiate it from the other members of the family. The most significant of these features is the jettisoning of the default link between order and design, which is precisely the principle omitted by an influential series of papers in the BMJ. Having defended these claims, the paper presents a brief case study illustrating the analysis.
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ISSN:0020-7489
1873-491X
DOI:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2010.09.012