Nurse researchers and nursing assistants: construction and projection of polymorphous identities

ABSTRACT Objective: To understand the meanings that nurse researchers and nursing assistants attribute to one another, and to the development of research produced by Nursing. Method: Qualitative research. The Grounded Theory and the Complexity Theory were used as theoretical and methodological frameworks, respectively. Ten nursing assistants and six research nurses participated in the research. The semi-structured interview was used as a data collection technique. The results were categorized by comparative analysis and validated by ten judges. Results: The valuation of nursing care research as well as interactions between research development and nursing care may be related to the way nursing assistants and nurse researchers perceive themselves. These perceptions are multifaceted. Conclusion: The meanings nurse researchers and nursing assistants attribute to each other reveal mechanisms of closeness and distance between these actors, as well as between research and nursing care.