Sister Callista Roy was born on October 14, 1939 in Los Angeles, California. She was a member of the Sisters of Joseph of Carondelet. She attained a Bachelor of arts in nursing from the University of California in 1966. Then, in 1968 she began operationalzing her Adaptation Model when Saint Mary's College adopted the adapation framework for the philosophical foundation of the nursing curriculum. She has published many books, chapters, and periodicals, and given lectures and workshops that highlight her nursing theory. She received the National Founder's Award for Excellence in fostering Professional Nursing Standards in 1981, an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1984, and and Honorary Doctorate from Eastern Michigan University in 1986.

Roy's model offers a classification for stressors that may affect adaptation. Her system concentrates on adaptive behaviors and the set of processes by which an individual adapts to environmental stressors. It is composed of philosophic assumptions, classes of stimuli and coping mechanisms.