Social Representations of nurses on the approach to children and adolescents who are victims of violence^*

Objective:

to analyze social representations from the perspective of the structural aspect about the nurses’ approach to children and adolescents who are victims of violence, comparing primary, secondary and tertiary health care services.

Method:

an analytical research study with a qualitative approach under the methodological theoretical framework of the Theory of Social Representations from the Central Core Theory. A total of 76 nurses participated in the study: 30 from primary care, 16 from secondary care and 30 from tertiary care. A semi-structured interview was applied using a pre-defined script and similarity analysis using the Interface of R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires software.

Results:

structurally, the maximum tree revealed the central core in the upper right quadrant, the first peripheral zone in the upper left quadrant; the second peripheral zone in the lower left quadrant; and the silent zone in the lower right quadrant. The ten branches of the maximum tree emerged from the following terms: hit, leave, approach (n), receive, approach (v), remember, tell, spend, pass, caution, mom.

Conclusion:

the social representations on the nurses’ approach in primary, secondary and tertiary care health services evidenced common points as for the lack of notification, transfer of responsibilities, weakness in identifying situations of violence and the need for training.

Descriptors:
Nurses; Child Abuse; Child; Adolescent; Health Services; Forensic Nursing