Content Validity of a Psychotherapeutic Intervention Model in Nursing: A Modified e-Delphi Study

Abstract

AIM: To estimate the content validity of a psychotherapeutic intervention model in nursing. BACKGROUND: Mental health nurses encounter great extrinsic difficulties when it comes to providing psychotherapeutic interventions due to the fact that they are not allowed to perform such practice in some countries. In this light, the pursuit of a psychotherapeutic intervention model in nursing seems germane to guide the professionals' psychotherapeutic practice, contributing hereof to increase mental health nurses' professional autonomy. DESIGN: Modified e-Delphi. METHODS: Data were collected from October 2015 to January 2016 by means of three rounds of online questionnaires. The initial questionnaire was structured into five sections: general structure of the model, patients' exclusion criteria, assessment framework, nursing diagnoses, and nursing psychotherapeutic interventions. From the 42 experts invited, at least twenty (20) participated in each round. RESULTS: The experts achieved consensus with regard to the conclusion that nursing psychotherapeutic interventions should always seek to address a nursing diagnosis. These defined furthermore that a psychotherapeutic intervention model in nursing should be exercised by means of 3 to 12 sessions using Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) as a resource. Finally, experts deemed that the model should follow the principles of integrative psychotherapy, so that techniques from different schools of psychotherapy could therefore be used in conjunction to promote the resolution of a nursing diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Achieving consensus about the structure of a psychotherapeutic intervention model in nursing is imperative to guide nurses in the provision of nursing psychotherapeutic interventions and to enable an effective evaluation of the health gains associated with its implementation.