4 7 1
Rev Lat ino- am Enfer m agem 2006 j ulho- agost o; 14( 4) : 471w w w . eer p. usp. br / r lae Edit orial
1 Associat e Professor, Edit or of Lat in Am erican Journal of Nursing of t he Universit y of São Paulo at Ribeirão Pret o College of Nursing - WHO Collaborat ing Cent re
for Nur sing Resear ch Developm ent , e- m ail: m ar ziale@eer p.usp.br
THE CONSTRUCTI ON OF NURSI NG KNOW LEDGE
I N THE REFLEXI VE- COMPREHENSI VE PARADI GM
Mar ia Helena Palucci Mar ziale1
T
he pr oduct ion of scient ific nur sing k now ledge is st r ongly r elat ed t o gr aduat e cour ses, w hich play ast r at egic r ole in t h e f or m at ion of qu alif ied h u m an r esou r ces, in k n ow ledge gen er at ion( 1 ), in t h e cr it ical an d
creat ive dialogue bet w een t he researcher and realit y, in t he capacit y t o int ervene t hrough t he use and applicat ion
of r esear ch r esult s in inst it ut ions and societ y. Mor eov er, it cont r ibut es t o t he for m at ion of public policies and
allow s for a space in t he scient ific com m unit y.
Br azil assum es a par am ount posit ion in t he Lat in- Am er ican cont ex t in t er m s of r esear cher for m at ion
and know ledge pr oduct ion due t o t he qualit y of t he r esear ch it develops and t he expr essive num ber of m ast er ’s
t heses and doct or al disser t at ions pr oduced by it s 28 gr aduat e pr ogr am s in nur sing, 15 of w hich ar e link ed up
w it h univ er sit ies fr om t he Sout heast , six fr om t he Sout h, fiv e fr om t he Nor t heast and t w o fr om t he Cent r
al-West . I t should be em phasized t hat t he Sout heast is t he m ost populous r egion in t he count r y, w it h m or e t han 78
m illion inhabit ant s; concent r at es t he highest num ber of univ er sit ies and is r esponsible for t he lar gest r esear ch
pr oduct ion in Br azil.
These graduat e cour ses in nur sing pr om ot e exchange w it h ot her count r ies on t he Am erican and Afr ican
con t in en t , h igh ligh t in g t h e cou n t r y ’s posit ion in t h e f or m at ion of t each er s an d r esear ch er s in Br azil, Ch ile,
Colom bia, Per u, Boliv ia, Cuba, Ar gent ina, Angola and Mex ico, am ong ot her s.
Th e p r od u ced r esear ch u ses d if f er en t m et h od s t o r esp on d t o r esear ch p r ob lem s, is st r u ct u r ed in
scient ific ev idence and based on clinical pr act ice and consensus am ong specialist s. The int er est in qualit at iv e
and int er pr et iv e st udies is incr easing.
The adopt ion of t his appr oach w as st im ulat ed fr om t he 1920’s and ‘30’s onw ar ds, w hen ant hr opologist s
and sociologist s st ar t ed t o use qualit at iv e m et hods t o st udy t he hum an phenom enon in nat ur al env ir onm ent s,
based on t he holist ic view point . Nur sing has t aken t his appr oach t o under st and t he hist or y of people, t heir living
and healt h condit ions, feelings, beliefs and ex per iences t o int er pr et t he cont ex t it inv est igat es( 2).
Th e a d o p t i o n o f q u a l i t a t i v e m e t h o d s r e f l e ct s t h e ch a n g e o f p a r a d i g m s i n t h e se a r ch f o r t h e
com pr eh en siv en ess of t h e ph en om en on an d a br oader appr oach of r ealit y( 3 ). Fu r t h er m or e, it in cr eases t h e
r elat ions bet w een healt h sciences and hum an sciences and t he per spect iv e of car e for life, inst ead of m er ely
for t he per son.
I n t his edit ion, RLAE publishes som e art icles st ruct ured on t he qualit at ive approach, w hich aim ed t o get
t o know t he r elat ion bet w een w or k, healt h and living condit ions in nur sing w or k; t he m eaning of nur ses’ act ions
t ow ar ds et hical occur r ences t hat inv olv e nur sing pr ofessionals; t he ex per iences of people w it h Sy st em ic Lupus
Er yt hem at osus; w it h per m anent int est inal ost om y; t he r easons t hat caused w om en not t o pick up t he r esult of
t heir pap sm ear, an im por t ant indicat or in colon cancer pr event ion; t he feelings of hear ing- im pair ed per sons in
healt h car e ser vices and t he t eam ’s lack of pr epar edness t o com m unicat e w it h t hese per sons; t he daily r ealit y
of schizophr enic pat ient s and of childr en and adolescent s w it h cy st ic fibr osis.
REFERENCES
1. Mar ziale MHP. Pr odução cient ífica da enfer m agem brasileira: a busca pelo im pact o int er nacional. Rev Lat ino- am enfer m agem
2 0 0 5 m aio- j u n h o; 1 3 ( 3 ) : 2 8 5 - 6 .
2 . Ailin ger R. Con t r ibu t ion s of qu alit at iv e r esear ch t o ev iden ce- based pr act ice in n u r sin g. Rev Lat in o- am en fer m agem 2 0 0 3
m aio- j u n h o; 1 1 ( 3 ) : 2 7 5 - 9 .
