Content Validation of the Operational Definitions of the Nursing Diagnoses of Activity Intolerance, Excess Fluid Volume, and Decreased Cardiac Output in Patients With Heart Failure

Abstract

Support the assessment of patients with decompensated heart failure.

Experts for Validation Studies in Nursing: New Proposal and Selection Criteria

“…Although some studies use the expert selection criteria established by Fehring in 1994 (Cavalcante et al., ; Chaves, Carvalho, & Hass, ; Chaves, Carvalho, Terra, et al., ), other researchers have used different adaptations of these criteria (Appoloni et al., ; Lucena et al., ; Seganfredo & Almeida, ; Teixeira et al., ; Zeleníková et al., ), and others use experts in other areas, such as medicine and physical therapy (Avena, Pedreira, & Gutierrez, ; Lopes et al., ; Souza et al., ).…”

“…Souza et al. () validated operational definitions of the nursing diagnoses activity intolerance, excess fluid volume, and decreased cardiac output in patients with heart failure. The experts were nurses and physicians specialized in cardiology with at least five years of practice, teaching, or research regarding cardiac patients with decompensated heart failure; linked to care, teaching, or research facilities in the state of São Paulo in Brazil; and working with cardiac patients in intensive care units and/or in emergency departments.…”

“…In the study by Fehring (), there is little emphasis on clinical experience, which can compromise the results of Brazilian studies. Thus, many studies have valued the clinical nursing experience for expert selection (Avena et al., ; Lopes et al., ; Seganfredo & Almeida, ; Souza et al., ).…”

“…These studies expose the true value of what they intend to measure, enabling the inference of how much the obtained results represent or not the truth (Polit & Beck, ). These results are essential for the improvement of diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes classifications (Appoloni, Herdman, Napoleão, Carvalho, & Hortense, ; Cavalcante et al., ; Chaves, Carvalho, & Hass, ; Chaves, Carvalho, Terra, & Souza, ; Lopes, Altino, & Silva, ; Lucena, Holsbach, Pruinelli, Cardoso, & Mello, ; Seganfredo & Almeida, ; Souza et al., ; Teixeira, Becker, Citro, Zanetti, & Landim, ; Zeleníková, Ziaková, Cáp, & Jarošová, ). In the studies validating the content of standardized nursing languages, the experts must be knowledgeable about the phenomenon studied in order to assess its representativeness or relevance.…”

“…Due to the existence of uncertainties, difficulties, and limitations of the theme, and the lack of a definition and criteria established and approved for the selection of these experts in nursing research validating nursing diagnoses outcomes and interventions, Brazilian researchers have either been proposing their own criteria or have been adapting the existing ones (Appoloni et al., ; Cavalcante et al., ; Lopes et al., ; Lucena et al., ; Seganfredo & Almeida, ; Souza et al., ; Teixeira et al., ). Researchers in the Czech Republic have also done so (Zeleníková et al., ).…”