Content validation of parental role conflict in the neonatal intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: To validate the content of the nursing diagnosis parental role conflict made by neonatal intensive care (NICU) nurses and researchers in the field and to identify the related major and minor defining characteristics.METHOD. Fehring's Diagnostic Content Validation model using 59 neonatal specialists.FINDINGS. Nineteen defining characteristics were validated for use in NICUs: four were considered major and 15 as minor. There was no correlation between nurse profiles and defining characteristic scores.CONCLUSIONS. In this study, parental role conflict was validated for use in neonatal units but defining characteristics must be described in a clearer and more objective manner. NURSING IMPLICATIONS: Validation studies in different healthcare settings are required so that the specificities of each clientele are met. NANDA diagnoses must be tested and validated at neonatal units, because this setting has developed few studies and their use in practice is a potential way to improve nursing care.