Practice and knowledge of nurses about child autism

Abstract

Objective: assessing the knowledge and practice of nurses of the Family Health Strategy about autistic disorder. Method: an exploratory research of a qualitative approach consisting of 15 nurses. There was used a semistructured interview. Data analysis was made by the representational analysis. It was approved by the Committee of Ethics in Research of the University of Rio Grande do Norte (CEP/UERN nº 124/11). Results: it became evident insecurity and fragility in nurses' knowledge about autistic disorder, because they have failed to define autism or demonstrated experience with autistic people and report the lack of training turned to the above topic. Conclusion: there was knowledge deficit by the nurses about infantile autism and the inextencence of practical interventions with autistic people and their families, besides not offering capabilities that address the subject.