Dorothy E. Johnson was born August 21, 1919, in Savannah, Georgia.

B. S. N. from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942; and her M.P.H. from Harvard University in Boston in 1948.

From 1949 till retirement in 1978 she was an assistant professor of pediatric nursing, an associate professor of nursing, and a professor of nursing at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Johnson stressed the importance of research-based knowledge about the effect of nursing care on clients.

Johnson's Behaviour System Model

Dorothy E. Johnson

“an external regulatory force which acts to preserve the organization and

integration of the patients behaviors at an optimum level under those

conditions in which the behaviors constitutes a threat to the physical or

social health, or in which illness is found”

nursing

Four goals of nursing

1. Whose behavior commensurate with social demands.

2. Who is able to modify his behavior in ways that it supports biological imperatives

3. Who is able to benefit to the fullest extent during illness from the physicians knowledge and skill.

4. Whose behavior does not give evidence of unnecessary trauma as a consequence of illness 

are to assist the patient:

Johnson’s Behavioral Subsystem Attachment or affiliative subsystem:

“social inclusion intimacy and the formation and attachment of a strong social bond.”

Dependency subsystem: “approval, attention or recognition and physical assistance”

Ingestive subsystem: “the emphasis is on the meaning and structures of the social events surrounding the occasion when the food is eaten”

Johnson’s Behavioral SubsystemEliminative subsystem: “human cultures

have defined different socially acceptable behaviors for excretion of waste ,but the existence of such a pattern remains different from culture to Culture.”

Sexual subsystem:" both biological and social factor affect the behavior in the sexual subsystem”

Johnson’s Behavioral SubsystemAggressive subsystem: " it relates to the

behaviors concerned with protection and self preservation Johnson views aggressive subsystem as one that generates defensive response from the individual when life or territory is being threatened”

Achievement subsystem: " provokes behavior that attempt to control the environment intellectual, physical, creative, mechanical and social skills achievement are some of the areas that Johnson recognizes".

Representation of Johnson's ModelGoal ----- Set --- Choice of Behavior ---

Behavior AffiliationDependencySexualityAggressionEliminationIngestionAchievement

The structure of each subsystem includes four elements:

1.drive or goal, 2.set, 3.choice, 4. action or behavior.

three functional requirements of each subsystem1. System must be “protected" from noxious

influences with which system cannot cope”.

2. Each subsystem must be “nurtured” through the input of appropriate supplies from the environment.

3. Each subsystem must be “stimulated” for use to enhance growth and prevent stagnation.

The four major concepts “Human being” as having two major

systems, the biological system and the behavioral system. It is role of the medicine to focus on biological system where as Nursing's focus is the behavioral system.

“Society” relates to the environment on which the individual exists. According to Johnson an individual’s behavior is influenced by the events in the environment

“Health” is a purposeful adaptive response, physically mentally, emotionally, and socially to internal and external stimuli in order to maintain stability and comfort.

“Nursing” has a primary goal that is to foster equilibrium within the individual. Nursing is concerned with the organized and integrated whole, but that the major focus is on maintaining a balance in the Behavior system when illness occurs in an individual.