Abstract

CUESTA BENJUMEA, Carmen de la. The contribution of qualitative evidence to care and community health. Index Enferm [online]. 2005, vol.14, n.50, pp.47-52. ISSN 1699-5988.

In order to show the contribution of qualitative evidence to nursing practice and community health, there is a need to examine first what is meant by evidence and the relationship between research and practice. This paper argues that evidence is necessarily plural and that is not produced in a social or historical vacuum. The assumptions and expectations about the contribution of research to practice need also to be examined in order to evaluate its use. The evaluation of research impact ought to be contextualized. Qualitative research is oriented to the production of relevant and valid knowledge and not to the solution of practical problems. It produces evidence that its relevance is general and not specific, it has therefore and indirect impact. The evaluation criteria of the practice based on evidence movement must be more inclusive and the attempts to jerarquized evidence with positivistic parameters must be questioned. Qualitative work is interpretative and subjective, it resists to jerarquization. Regarding research utilization responsibilities are shared; while researcher’s is to make evidence accessible powerful and evocative, readers responsibility is to evaluate its fit and relevance to specific situations. The validation of evidence and its utilization in practice is one of the mayor challenges that health professionals face nowadays.