Toward a middle-range theory of adaptation to chronic pain.

Merton postulated that to significantly advance disciplinary knowledge, scholarship must include the development of middle-range theories that derive hypotheses, can be empirically investigated, and are linked to extant theories. The purpose of this paper is to present the strategies used to develop a middle-range nursing theory of adaptation to chronic pain based on Merton's description. Analysis and synthesis of the theoretical and research literature provided the foundational, theory-building strategies used to develop the adaptation to chronic pain model. Theoretical substruction was then used to deduce the adaptation to chronic pain model from Roy's adaptation model.