Brazilian forensic nursing from the perspective of its experts

Abstract

Objective: To understand Brazilian forensic nursing from experts’ perspective. Method: A qualitative study, carried out with nurses specialized in forensic nursing. Data collection was done through an electronic questionnaire applied between February and May 2023, composed of questions about socio-professional and performance characteristics. The data were organized by lexicographic analysis by IRAMUTEQ, analyzed from the perspective of Bardin’s content analysis. Results: Fifty-five experts who worked in the five Brazilian regions participated, with the largest participation from the Northeast and Southeast regions, both with 41.8% of professionals. The majority reported being women, white, mostly married or in a stable union. From the association of classes presented in the dendrogram generated by IRAMUTEQ, five categories related to the Descending Hierarchical Classification lexical terms were generated: 1) Creation of forensic nursing and its political development in national territory; 2) Establishment of environments for forensic nursing practice according to national/cultural reality; 3) Already established competencies of Brazilian forensic nursing; 4) Paths to success in Brazilian forensic nursing; and 5) Perspectives for Brazilian forensic nursing. Conclusion: The study allowed contextualizing the current scenario of Brazilian forensic nursing. The results revealed violence as the focus of the actions developed by the specialty. Finally, it was possible to relate forensic nursing experts’ knowledge and experiences, enabling the understanding of the path already taken and what still needs to be followed, such as the development of public policies that include forensic nursing practice.