O PAPEL DO ENFERMEIRO NA IDENTIFICAÇÃO PRECOCE DE SINAIS DE SOFRIMENTO PSÍQUICO INFANTIL EM UNIDADES DE PRONTO ATENDIMENTO.

Abstract

The absence of early diagnosis and adequate treatment for psychological issues in childhood can lead to significant consequences in adulthood, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, unidentified psychological suffering compromises the child's emotional, social, and academic development, and can also affect family dynamics. This research is characterized as an integrative literature review, with a qualitative approach, conducted between August 2025 and March 2026. The search for studies was conducted in the PubMed and SciELO virtual libraries, using the MEDLINE and LILACS databases. The controlled descriptors extracted from the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) were used: Nursing, Child, Child Care, Mental Health, Psychological Distress, and Signs and Symptoms, combined using the Boolean operators AND and OR. As inclusion criteria, full articles published between 2021 and 2025, in Portuguese and English, that directly or indirectly addressed the proposed theme were selected. Studies that did not answer the guiding research question, articles unavailable in full, published in other languages, and studies considered to have low scientific evidence were excluded. After screening the titles and abstracts, potentially eligible articles were submitted to full-text reading for qualitative content analysis. At the end of the selection process, 10 studies comprised the sample for this integrative review. Keywords: Nursing; mental health; psychological distress; children.