Analysis of the publications about child health in journals of nursing from 2000 to 2005

Publications of research in child health have been increasing every year. This study’s objective was to analyze the content of articles about health child from abstracts published in Brazilians journals of nursing classified on “Qualis CAPES” as International B and C, in the period between 2000 and 2005. Descriptive and documentary study, which the sample consisted of 202 abstracts which had as focus child health in their titles. They were consulted on BVS/BIREME site, universities’ libraries and personal collection of the authors. After that, they were photocopied, read and examined from March to May, 2006. The data about the name of journal, year of publication, title of the article, authors, city, theme, objective and type of research were noted in a specific instrument. The findings revealed that the themes most investigated were nursing care (16.0%) and nutrition (12.3%); the themes least researched were domestic accidents (2.0%), HIV (2.0%), and pain (1.2%). In relation to year of publication, 2004 had the highest number of articles/abstracts (23.3%). The Southeast Region published 53.6% of the abstracts and the North 0.6%. Nursing have been doing studies about child health, but it is necessary to stimulate and support continuing these researches, on a broader variety of topics about child health, especially in regions like North and Central-West of Brazil.Keywords: Nursing, child health, periodicals.