Introduction: Nursing, as a discipline with philosophical foundations, is trying to increase knowledge in the profession, improve educational status and clinical practice, and help conduct appropriate research in nursing by using appropriate approaches in its various fields. one philosophical approach relevant to nursing is positivism. The philosophy of positivism emphasizes the observability and measurement of knowledge by recognizing reality as one. So, this study was conducted to examine the position of positivist philosophy in nursing.
Methods: This is a narrative review study. The search strategy in this study was designed using the keywords positivism, nursing education, nursing clinic, nursing research, and nursing administration in Persian and Positivism, Nursing Education, Nursing Practice, Nursing Research, Nursing Administration in English. Searches were conducted without time limits, individually and in combination, using (AND, OR, and NOT) functions in reputable domestic and foreign databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, WOS, Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, and IranDoc. The scientific documents were entered into the study based on the inclusion criteria and analyzed.
Results: In Nursing Education were identified: (1) Facilitating learning in nursing education and emphasizing familiarity with diverse philosophical schools. (2) Challenges in education. In Nursing Practice were revealed:(1) Influencing clinical decision-making and performance (2) Inadequacy in holistic and clinical care provision.In Nursing Research were noted: (1) Contributing to the foundational development of nursing science. (2)The necessity to be informed about each philosophical approach based on research needs and objectives. (3)aradigm and philosophical shift in nursing from positivism towards alternative schools of thought. (4) The replacement of positivism by post-positivism. (5) Challenges in nursing research. In nursing management, it was also shown as a dominant approach. Also, the paradigm and philosophy shift in nursing from positivism to other schools of thought was also achieved jointly in nursing education, practice, and research.
Conclusion: Positivism, as the predominant theoretical foundation in nursing, has played a important role in nursing education, clinical practice, research, and management. Despite its contributions across multiple dimensions of the profession, this philosophy has encountered significant challenges. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies, while examining the role of positivism in various nursing domains, also explore the expansion of perspectives and the integration of alternative nursing philosophies tailored to current professional needs.