A critical social reconceptualization of environment in nursing: implications for methodology.

Nursing is being challenged to forge a broader, more comprehensive view of the environment that incorporates social, political, and economic realities. A critical social reconceptualization of the environment offers not only an organizing perspective but an invitation for nursing practice and research to act to transform the environmental conditions that constrain health and human potential. Critical social theory offers a vision for the future wherein innovative nursing knowledge can be used by individuals and communities to alter oppressive environmental circumstances and to increase potential for emancipatory change.