Middle-Range Theory for the Nursing Diagnosis of Low Self-Efficacy in Health

Objectives: theoretical validation of the concept of low self-efficacy in health as a nursing diagnosis construct.

Methods: construction of a middle-range theory for validating diagnoses, comprised of five stages: definition of the approach for building the theory; definition of the main concepts; creation of a pictorial diagram; formulation of proposals; establishment of causal relationships and evidence for clinical practice. The main concepts were identified through a literature review and the studies were taken from the LILACS, SCOPUS, CINAHL and PubMed/MEDLINE databases. The final sample was comprised of 92 articles.

Results: eighteen etiological factors and 16 clinical indicators were identified; characterized as antecedents and manifestations for inferring a diagnosis of low self-efficacy in health.

Conclusions: the related concepts of the new nursing diagnosis of low self-efficacy in health, to be applied in clinical nursing practice, were identified and defined.