EDITORIAL
Research in Health Care and Nursing is the theme of this last issue of 2007, in which we commemorate 15 years of Texto & Contexto Nursing Journal's existence. It has been a victorious existence, thanks to the efforts of all the researching faculty of the Nursing Graduate Program (Programa de Pós Graduação em Enfermagem - PEN) of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil (UFSC) who have participated of the editorial staff of the journal. In order to commemorate this benchmark, there could be nothing more opportune than the satisfying news of our recent inclusion in the Scientific Eletronic Library Online (SciELO) collection.
From the time of its planning, creation, and implementation by a group of enthused faculty, led by Dr. Ingrid Elsen, to its current place as a national authority in family nursing, it has seen its share of difficulties. Challenges of various natures have permeated our historical trajectory, considering that the journal's affirmation process and search for increased quality can only be considered successful thanks to the unity of a self-sacrificing and competent1 body of editorial work, composed of researchers from several origins; above all faculty from the PEN/UFSC, those subsidized by other national and international authorities, academic peers, and professional peers, who have all provided relevant contributions, though principally as ad hoc consultors in the publication process.
Among the difficulties experienced along the way, the scarcity of material, complementary human, and infra-structure resources must be highlighted. There has also been the insufficiency of manuscript inscriptions, both in quantity and quality. Overcoming these limitations by appealing vehemently for collaboration from colleagues in the form of material for the journal, as well as stimulating them towards support for the elaboration of technical-scientific articles have been historical events that cannot be forgotten. Many other challenges have arisen and have been overcome along the way of the path thus far transgressed.
Observing the current state of development of the Journal, it becomes us to give notice to what the respected American theorist and researcher, Rosemarie Parse wrote in her editorial of the Nursing Science Quarterly2 about the demanding determinations in the edification of the research culture in an institution that intends to really become an organization recognized for its academic-scientific excellence in knowledge production that makes sense towards the good of humanity. For her, this construction demands three essential conditions: a) investing in a new and extraordinary manner of thinking of common activities of the daily life of a system, awakening the curiosity and encouragement of each of the professional members of the research group involved, creating attitudes of group co-creation, and of a collective and dedicated search for competences or qualifications for the original and inspired molding of promising and committed paths in the discovery of knowledge and in the construction and refinement of knowledge and technologies; b) uniting and maintaining a solid and well-paid group of leading researchers who guarantee the planning and the development of investigations that permit the institution to consolidate itself as a center of excellence through the scientific results that it gains over time, whether it realizes that this consists of a challenge for institutions; c) guaranteeing financing for research and other administrative infra-structure resources, and complementary material and human resources.
Having taken such advice in the appropriate measure, and considering that our country does not yet prioritize research, beyond finding ourselves in a context devastated by various crises, we can affirm that Texto & Contexto Nursing Journal throughout its 15 years, conducted by a body of nursing and health care thinkers has published research results in diverse areas, produced in qualified centers, and has thus contributed to the visibility of emerging centers of excellence and respective researchers in different corners of the country. It is important to highlight as well that upon gathering and divulging different modalities of articles, beyond the original research article, the journal permits that authors develop their own thinking/rethinking concerning their theoretical-philosophical reflections and epistemologies surrounding the phenomenon of nursing and health care. It is for this reason that the journal privileges authors who exercise the conceptualization or the reconceptualization of phenomenon and concepts found in nursing and health care, elaborating appropriate theoretical or conceptual marks in order to guide entrepreneurial proposals, whether they be in research, teaching, or care. Many of these works are products or reflections of the pioneering teaching of Dr. Eloita P. Neves and Dr. Mercedes Trentini, introduced during the 1980s at the PEN/UFSC.
In the editorial of the last edition of 2006, Dr. Alacoque L. Erdmann, faculty member of the PEN/UFSC and representative for Nursing on the National Council for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), alerts us to the "need to produce knowledge in nursing for national and international visibility, for recognition and consolidation of the graduate, undergraduate, and professional who all require yet further scientific and technological advances, and in their own right require competent researchers with a more ample research policy".3:548 For this reason, she urges that one concentrates ones efforts to the "institutionalization of Brazilian nursing", adding together regional strengths and conjugating prioritary strategies and goals in the construction of knowledge and technologies as a committed social practice with perspectives for results that provide greater well-being for populations. In this aspect, we can say that our publication has contributed nationally, and at the same time internationally, upon divulging resulting production from interinstitutional research and permitting articulation from researchers from different centers.
In this edition the reader will find various research articles written by different researchers from their institutions of origin. One will be able to note not only the diversity of the precedence, but above all the essence of the communication of the research in its aspects such as: its theme and its relevance; the object and the question of the study; the objectives and the theoretical support adopted; the adequacy of the methodology followed. Upon divulging the results obtained, interpreting them and making the conclusions that were made, the authors emphasize the implications of the research in their social reality, giving the reader elements that will permit him/her to evaluate their own state of the art of nursing scientific production. Independently of the readers' verdicts, we will remain plainly conscious of how far is the path that lay ahead in order to reach the refinement of our investigative practice and to be convinced that many efforts will still be necessary in order to increment the science of human care in a way to provide greater health and longer life with better well-being and quality to a greater number of people.
REFERENCES
Drª Lucia Hisako Takase Gonçalves
IV Adjunct Professor of the Nursing Department and Nursing Graduate Program at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Leader of the Research Group about Health Care for the Elderly (GESPI). National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) Researcher - Productivity in 1B Research
- 1 Marziale MHP, Mendes IAC, Malerbo MB. Desafios em la divulgación del conocimiento científico de enfermeria produzido en Brasil. Index Enfermería 2004 Inverno; 13 (47):75-8.
- 2 Parse RP. Editorial: building a research culture. Nursing Science Quartely. 2007 Jul; 20 (3):179.
- 3 Erdmann AL. Editorial. Texto Contexto Enferm. 2006 Out-Dez; 15 (4):547-8.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
11 Mar 2008 -
Date of issue
Dec 2007
