SELF-CAREAMONG NURSING PROFESSIONALS: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW OF BRAZILIAN DISSERTATIONS AND THESES

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify and analyze the Brazilian scientific production in nursing on self-care issues from dissertations and theses of graduate programs in Brazil. Material and Methods: This is a narrative literature review based on searches using the key-words self-care and taking care of oneself in the electronic database of the Coordination for the Improvement of the Higher Level Personnel (CAPES) as well as in the files of the Center for the Study and Research in Nursing (CEPEN). Results: A total of 274 articles were found, of which 32 were selected according to the eligibility criteria. The analysis was conducted by means of statistical mapping and thematic content analysis. By reading the abstracts of theses and dissertations we could observe the meanings expressed in the studies through the co-occurrence of the following broad categories: self-care and care for the other as an essentially human and interrelated activity; difficulty of nursing professionals to take care of themselves; influence of the biomedical model in caring for others and self-care. Conclusion: The findings indicate that self-care is a complex issue. It encompasses the physical, mental and spiritual care related to the needs of human beings to live harmonically as part of a group; it is a search for self-knowledge, which happens in the encountering with the other one, placing the human being as a being of relationships. DESCRIPTORS Nursing.Nursing Care. Nursing, Team.