Paths taken by Brazilian Nursing for the development of terminological subsets

OBJECTIVE: to discuss the paths taken by Brazilian Nursing in the development of terminological subsets of the International Classification for Nursing Practice. METHOD: documentary research, carried out in master’s dissertations and doctoral theses, which developed terminological subsets, available at the Bank of Doctoral Theses and Master’s Dissertations of the Under-graduation Personnel Improvement Coordination. The variables were analyzed were institution, year; academic level, type of health service, methodological approach, clientele, theoretical reference, validation of terms, cross mapping, modeling of new concepts, validation of statements, method used for elaboration, term collection, finalization and dissemination. RESULTS: 124 doctoral theses and master’s dissertations were found, 91 were excluded and 33 were included, 23 (69.70%) of which were master’s dissertations, with the highest production in 2014 (n=10; 30.30%), with emphasis on the Northeast (36.36%); the ‘Primary Care’ scenario, with six studies (18.18%); and the predominant clientele was cancer patients. As for the methodological characteristics, in 96% of the studies, the quantitative approach was used; in 2%, a qualitative approach; and 2% associated the quantitative and qualitative approaches. As for the type of study, 60% were methodological and 24% descriptive-exploratory, with the Horta model being the most used (36%). CONCLUSION: the paths are successful, yet still permeated by weaknesses in the validations and potentialities to standardize the language.