Accuracy of nursing diagnoses for identifying domestic violence against children

Objective: Identify nursing diagnoses involving a hypothetical situation of domestic violence against a child and the respective degrees of accuracy. Method: An exploratory, evaluative, case study was conducted using a quantitative and qualitative approach, with data collected using an online instrument from 26 nurses working in the Municipal HealThNetwork, between June and August 2010, in Curitiba, and also during the first half of 2014 in Sao Paulo. BoThof these cities are in Brazil. Nursing diagnoses and interventions from the International Classification of Nursing Practices in Collective HealThwere provided, and accuracy was verified using the Nursing Diagnosis Accuracy Scale. Results: Thirty-nine nursing diagnoses were identified, 27 of which were common to boThcities. Of these, 15 were scored at the null level of accuracy, 11 at high accuracy and 1 at medium accuracy. Conclusion: The difficulty the nurses had in defining diagnoses may be associated wiThthe fact that nursing care generally focuses on clinical problems, and signs expressing situations of domestic violence against children go unnoticed. The results demonstrated the difficulty of participants in selecting the appropriate nursing diagnosis for the case in question.