Research and Theory for Nursing Practice: An International Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2004 © 2004 Springer Publishing Company 15 Development of a Theoretical Construct for Risk and Vulnerability From Six Empirical Studies Jeanne M. Leffers University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth Diane C. Martins Margaret M. McGrath Deborah Godfrey Brown Judith Mercer Mary C. Sullivan Paula Viau University of Rhode Island, Kingston The concepts of risk and vulnerability are frequently the subject of nursing schol- arship but lack semantic and conceptual clarity in the nursing literature. Using empir- ical evidence from 6 research studies, the authors define the concepts of risk and vulnerability, apply shared definitions to each of the study populations, and discuss 3 types of responses to risk observed in the research setting. This collaborative effort by nursing scholars advances conceptual clarity of risk and vulnerability for the development of nursing knowledge. Further, the examination of risk responses has the potential to link the various perspectives of risk and vulnerability common in nursing and generate nursing practice implications explored in this review. Keywords: risk; vulnerability; resilience; resourcefulness; health outcomes N ursing literature reports extensive examples of nurses’ experiences with persons or groups that are at risk and/or vulnerable to poor health out- comes. However, diverse philosophical, theoretical, and methodological perspectives among scholars impede the development of semantic and concep- tual clarity of risk and vulnerability for knowledge development in nursing. The pri- mary purpose of this paper is to clarify the conceptual distinctions between risk and vulnerability. Second, responses to risk, specifically resilience and resource- fulness, will be specified and explored. Third, we will examine empirical evidence from six studies using shared conceptual definitions of risk and vulnerability. The shared conceptual definitions developed from our various perspectives and, applied to the studies, serve to advance semantic clarity for nursing. Further, the risk