Abstract

The concept of comfort has been regarded as a core concept of nursing and it has been frequently used as one of main goals of nursing care. Promoting comfort has been a very important objective in clinical nursing practice. There have been some ambiguities in defining the concept of 'comfort" among nursing scholars. Therefore it was necessary to analyse the concept of comfort for clearer definition to be able to share among scholars. This study is an attempt to analyse concept of comfort and to do it according to a series of concept development processes described by Walker and Avant. Based on the results of the study, the attributes of scope, precedence and consequence of comfort were identified : 1. Attributes 1) stability 2) directionality 3) equilibrium 4) firmness 2. Scope 1) physical 2) social 3) emotional 4) spiritua~ 3. Precedence and Consequence 1) precedence (1) instability (2) unsatisfied needs 2) consequence (1) physical & psychological relaxation (2) enhancement of self-worth (3) enhancement of self-efficacy (4) satisfied needs.