Child development (CD) is a phenomena related to the most vulnerable period of human development and the most responsive to stimulus and to therapies when they are necessary. Nurses act on the promotion of CD through the guidance of families for attendance of childrens essential needs. However, the NANDA-Is nursing diagnoses related to CD are inconsistent, making harder a qualified care planning. Aiming to approach the CD comprehensively in the nursing process, the review of concept and of the nursing diagnoses related to CD was necessary.

Objectives:

Performing the analysis of concept of the term Child Development; validating the proposed definition for CD; reviewing the NANDA-Is diagnosis about development; submitting the revised NANDA-Is diagnoses to content analysis.

Method:

Concept analysis according to Hybrid Model was performed in three phases theoretical phase, including a bibliographic review in scientific databases and books; field phase, which was a qualitative research with professionals who care for children; analytical phase, which included the articulation of data from previous phases and then the analysis according to the Development Bioecological Theory. The definition of CD which was obtained from the concept analysis was validated by experts in a focus group. The data from concept analysis were used for review the NANDA-Is diagnoses. The reviewed diagnoses were undergone to content analysis by judge nurses. Project approved by Ethical Research Committee and supported by FAPESP (Process 2011/51012-3).

Results:

Through the concept analysis using 256 articles from 12 databases, books, and interviews with 10 professionals, were found the attributes, antecedents, consequences and definitions of the term child development. The antecedents were aspects related to pregnancy; child intrinsic factors; context-related factors, with highlight on relationships and childrens care; social aspects. The CDs consequences were better quality of life arising from better individual performance, in a most immediate perspective, as well as improve future conquests with possible impact on society. The attributes are childs behaviors and abilities. The definitions corresponded to maturational perspectives, to contextual perspectives or both. The definition elaborated from data analysis and validated for nine themes experts, expresses the magnitude of the phenomena and presents factors which were not explored by the current definitions, such as the active participation of children during their process of development and care as central in this process. The diagnoses Delayed growth and development and Risk for delayed development, described in NANDA-I, were revised and replaced for Delayed child development and Risk for delayed child development. These diagnoses presented over 80% of concordance in the content analysis by 18 nurses. The new diagnose Readiness for improved child development presented 61% of wording concordance, with some disagreements about the terms, but it was not changed because it follows the nomenclature proposed for the taxonomy; most of defining features had concordance over 80%.

Conclusion:

The concept analysis provided a new definition of CD which supported new diagnoses for the improvement of nursing practice. The high index of nurses concordance during the content analysis of diagnosis strengthened the need of this review.