Validation of the Nursing Diagnosis “Labile Emotional Control” in Traumatic Brain Injury

• Published in: Journal of nursing scholarship Vol. 51; no. 1; pp. 88 - 95
• Main Authors: Santos, Ana Carla Ferreira Silva dos, Hora Mota, Edilene Curvelo, Santos, Valmira dos, Cartaxo Freitas, Carla Kalline Alves, Barreiro, Maria do Socorro Claudino, Santos, Lyvia de Jesus Andrade dos, Andrade, Joseilze Santos, Vasconcelos, Geferson Messias Teles, Freitas, João Paulo Almeida
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-2019
• Subjects: Affective Symptoms - diagnosis; Affective Symptoms - etiology; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - diagnosis; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - psychology; Brain research; Brazil; Classification; Clinical medicine; Clinical nursing; Craniocerebral trauma; Cross-Sectional Studies; Emotional disorders; Emotions; Humans; Medical diagnosis; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing care; nursing diagnosis; Nursing Diagnosis - methods; Nursing Diagnosis - standards; Outpatients; Patients; Quality of life; Rehabilitation; Self expression; Semistructured questionnaires; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; Taxonomy; Terminology as Topic; Trauma; Traumatic brain injury; validation study; Validity; Brazil; North America; traumatic brain injury; emotions; validation study; Craniocerebral trauma; nursing diagnosis
• ISSN: 1527-6546; 1547-5069
• DOI: 10.1111/jnu.12433

Objective
To validate the defining characteristics of the nursing diagnosis “labile emotional control” in traumatic brain injury (TBI) outpatients.
Design
This was a descriptive, cross‐sectional, quantitative study.
Methods
Thirty‐one Brazilian nurses who were experts in the area of TBI answered a semistructured questionnaire on the diagnosis “labile emotional control” based on NANDA‐International (NANDA‐I) Taxonomy II (2015–2017) using a Likert‐type scale to rate the 13 defining characteristics. Based on Fehring's model, the weighted average of ≥80 was used to define the main characteristic and the mean of ≥0.50 was considered for total content validation.
Results
Out of the 13 defining characteristics of the nursing diagnosis studied, “leaving a social situation” (0.80) and “expression of emotions inconsistent with the triggering factor” (0.81) were classified as principal characteristics, while the 11 others were classified as secondary characteristics. The diagnosis “labile emotional control” obtained a total score of 0.69, which was considered valid according to NANDA‐I Taxonomy II.
Conclusions
Because this is a new diagnosis with subjective characteristics, there is a need to train nurses to recognize the defining characteristics for the diagnosis.
Clinical Relevance
The validation of this diagnosis helps nurses understand and identify the subjective characteristics of the emotional impressions expressed by patients with TBI. These defining characteristics will help improve TBI nurses’ clinical practice.