Following the identification of group members’ behaviors
in the four modes, the community health clinical nurse
specialist must determine the stimuli causing those
behaviors. Roy and Andrews (1999) described these
stimuli as focal, contextual, and residual. The focal
stimulus is one that immediately influences a behavior.
Contextual stimuli include all the other stimuli present
that contribute to the effects of the focal stimulus. The
other stimuli present in the environment, which cannot be
validated, are called residual stimuli