Advanced nursing practice for caring for mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder in the CACTO program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.8152.4883Keywords:
Advanced Practice Nursing; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Caregivers; Primary Care Nursing; Nursing Theory; Evidence-Based Nursing.Abstract
Objective: to describe the competencies of advanced nursing practice for the care of mothers participating in CACTO: a unitary care program for mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder and/or disability. Method: qualitative study based on the Unitary Caring Science, conducted with 39 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Data were collected from medical records, field diaries, meeting minutes, and CACTO’s social media profile. Deductive, reflective thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Results: the results revealed a broadening of the scope of competencies that can be performed by nurses in primary health care, for example: understanding health needs, creating new ways of caring, recognizing ethical dilemmas, establishing collaborative relationships, valuing the social role of mothers, suggesting care with recommended scientific evidence, conducting scientific research, and acting autonomously. Conclusion: the competencies of nurses working at CACTO are distributed across seven dimensions, namely: care management, ethics, interprofessional collaboration, health promotion and risk prevention, evidence-based nursing, research, and leadership.
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