Training in nursing and care for people with disabilities: curricular analysis in the Brazilian contextABSTRACT
Objective: To analyze the landscape of the inclusion of content related to nursing assistance to people with disabilities in the Pedagogical Projects of nursing courses at Brazilian federal universities.
Method: Documentary research, qualitative in nature, which analyzed the Pedagogical Projects of 45 courses, between January and March 2025. It was developed in three stages: identification of higher education public institutions with nursing degrees; search for the Pedagogical Projects on the institutions’ websites or hubs; analysis of the content related to nursing care for people with disabilities.
Results: Only 11 courses have components focused on assistance to people with disabilities, with a predominance of elective or transversal subjects. The content addresses relevant topics, but inadequate terms still persist in the description of some components.
Conclusion: Gaps were evidenced in the inclusion of specific content aimed at nursing assistance to people with disabilities, with low incidence of mandatory subjects on the topic.
DESCRIPTORS:
Universities; Education; Nursing; Diploma Programs; Education; Nursing; Curriculum; Health of the Disabled.
HIGHLIGHTS
1. Content gaps regarding nursing assistance to people with disabilities.
2. Low incidence of mandatory subjects on the topic.
3. Predominance of fragmented content.
4. Fragmentation may compromise the inclusive training of future professionals.
RESUMO
Objetivo: Analisar panorama da inclusão de conteúdos referentes à assistência de enfermagem à Pessoa com Deficiência nos Projetos Pedagógicos dos cursos de Enfermagem nas universidades federais brasileiras.
Método: Pesquisa documental, natureza qualitativa, que analisou Projetos Pedagógicos de 45 cursos, entre os meses de janeiro e março de 2025. Foi desenvolvido em três etapas: identificação das instituições de ensino público superior com graduação em Enfermagem; busca dos Projetos Pedagógicos nos sites das instituições ou dos núcleos; análise dos conteúdos relacionados ao cuidado de enfermagem às pessoas com deficiência.
Resultados: Apenas 11 cursos possuem componentes voltados à assistência à Pessoa com Deficiência, com predominância de disciplinas optativas ou transversais. Os conteúdos abordam temas relevantes, mas ainda persistem termos inadequados na descrição de alguns componentes.
Conclusão: Foram evidenciadas lacunas na inclusão de conteúdos específicos voltados à assistência de enfermagem a pessoas com deficiência, com baixa incidência de disciplinas obrigatórias sobre o tema.
DESCRITORES:
Universidades; Programas de Graduação em Enfermagem; Educação em Enfermagem; Currículo; Saúde da Pessoa com Deficiência.
HIGHLIGHTS
1. Lacunas de conteúdos sobre assistência de enfermagem à PcD.
2. Baixa incidência de disciplinas obrigatórias sobre o tema.
3. Predominância de conteúdos fragmentados.
4. Fragmentação pode comprometer formação inclusiva dos futuros profissionais.
RESUMEN
Objetivo: Analizar el panorama de la inclusión de contenidos referentes a la asistencia de enfermería a la Persona con Discapacidad en los Proyectos Pedagógicos de las carreras de Enfermería en las universidades federales brasileñas.
Método: Investigación documental, de naturaleza cualitativa, que analizó Proyectos Pedagógicos de 45 carreras, entre los meses de enero y marzo de 2025. Se desarrolló en tres etapas: identificación de las instituciones de educación superior pública con grado en Enfermería; búsqueda de los Proyectos Pedagógicos en los sitios de las instituciones o de los núcleos; análisis de los contenidos relacionados al cuidado de enfermería a las personas con discapacidad.
Resultados: Solo 11 carreras tienen componentes orientados a la asistencia a la Persona con Discapacidad, con predominancia de materias optativas o transversales. Los contenidos abordan temas relevantes, pero aún persisten términos inadecuados en la descripción de algunos componentes.
Conclusión: Se evidenciaron lagunas en la inclusión de contenidos específicos orientados a la asistencia de enfermería a personas con discapacidad, con baja incidencia de materias obligatorias sobre el tema.
DESCRIPTORES:
Universidades; Programas de Graduación en Enfermería; Educación en Enfermería; Curriculum; Salud de la Persona con Discapacidad.
HIGHLIGHTS
1. Lagunas de contenidos sobre asistencia de enfermería a PcD.
2. Baja incidencia de materias obligatorias sobre el tema.
3. Predominancia de contenidos fragmentados.
4. La fragmentación puede comprometer la formación inclusiva de los futuros profesionales.
INTRODUCTION
The change in morbidity and mortality patterns and the increasing aging population have highlighted new perspectives for nursing care. In this context, the generalist training of the Nurse needs adaptations so that the population’s needs can be met and the comprehensiveness of care is promoted1.
Although progress has been observed in the topics addressed, there remains a need to incorporate issues related to care in situations of service to populations with specific health conditions, which require communication, attitudinal, and practical knowledge approaches adapted to their needs, such as People with Disabilities2.
These individuals have specific health needs that, for the most part, are not fully met. From this perspective, a scope review study identified that there are different barriers impacting access to health services, highlighting difficulties in communication with professionals, as well as behavioral and attitudinal aspects3.
Such obstacles, which compromise the quality of health services aimed at this population, may be related to the academic training of health professionals. This can be observed in a study that pointed out reports of insecurity and difficulties in serving this clientele, especially mentioning the absence of specific content on the subject in mandatory subjects during the course4.
However, there is an effort to integrate inclusive guidelines into academic curricula. In Brazil, the National Health Policy for People with Disabilities, combined with the proposal of the new National Curriculum Guidelines (NCGs) for nursing courses, establishes principles for training professionals capable of working with this population at all levels of health care in an inclusive and resolutive manner5.
The relevance of these guidelines becomes even more evident in light of the latest Brazilian census data, which showed that 8.9% of the population reported having some type of disability, representing a total of 18.6 million people. Despite this significant number, some challenges persist regarding professional training and the implementation of inclusive care policies in the health sector.
In this context, this article proposes to analyze the landscape of the inclusion of content related to nursing care for People with Disabilities in the Pedagogical Projects of nursing courses at Brazilian federal universities.
METHOD
This is a documentary research, of a qualitative nature, conducted from January to March 2025, developed from the documentary analysis of the Pedagogical Projects of the Nursing Courses (PPC) of Brazilian federal universities. The PPCs were used as an official source for evaluating the programmatic content of the subjects that make up the curriculum matrix of undergraduate nursing courses.
The study was developed in three stages: 1) Identification of public higher education institutions with nursing degrees; 2) Search for the PPCs on the official websites of the institutions or the responsible centers; 3) Analysis of the content related to nursing care for people with disabilities in the syllabi of the subjects based on Bardin’s content analysis6, which included the stages of Pre-analysis, material exploration, and result treatment.
In the first stage, searches were conducted on the website of the Ministry of Education (MEC) (https://www.gov.br/mec/pt-br/assuntos/es/universidades-federais) to identify Federal Universities and, subsequently, on the official websites of each educational institution, as a way to identify which universities had nursing courses. In this stage, all Brazilian federal universities listed by the MEC were considered in the search, and the analysis was conducted by geographic region. Thus, the tracking led to the selection of 45 courses for the composition of the study.
The second stage consisted of surveying the PPCs of the institutions that had nursing courses, selected in the previous stage. Those that were available in full for consultation on the websites of the respective federal institutions were included, and those whose link for access did not work or had redirection issues were disregarded.
In the third stage, a floating reading of the documents in full was carried out to identify subjects and content directed towards the care of Nursing for People with Disabilities (PwD) and to formulate the indicators to be considered for the data extraction instrument. As a result, a spreadsheet instrument was constructed for data extraction, which contained the collection of the following information: institution, state, region, year of publication of the PPC, curricular component, nature, workload, and content related to PwD. Based on this data, a reflective and critical analysis of the selected information for the study6 was conducted.
Furthermore, since this study was conducted with publicly accessible documents, approval from the Research Ethics Committee was not required, as stated in resolution no. 510/2016.
RESULTS
69 Brazilian Federal Universities were identified, of which 45 offer the Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, distributed across all regions of the country. Chart 1 presents the relationship between the regions and the year of publication of the PPC of each institution.
List of Brazilian federal universities, region, and year of publication of the PPC. Redenção, CE, Brazil, 2025
Most of the institutions included belong to the Northeast Region, with 13 (28.89%) universities, followed by the Southeast Region with 12 (26.67%). The other regions, Midwest, North, and South, have fewer universities offering a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, with five (11.11%), seven (15.56%), and eight (17.78%) respectively.
Regarding the PPCs, the year of their publications varies between 2007 and 2024. The oldest document belongs to UFAL, located in the Northeast Region. While the most current ones, published in 2024, belong to institutions from different regions: UFS in the Northeast Region; UFJ in the Midwest Region; UFTM in the Southeast Region; UFCSPA and UFSM from the South Region.
After reading the documents in full, the names of the curricular components with their respective syllabi addressing care for people with disabilities were extracted. Chart 2 presents the relationship of these components with their nature, workload, and main contents.
Relationship of curricular components and contents related to Nursing care for People with Disabilities in Brazil. Redenção, CE, Brazil, 2025
After analyzing the PPCs, it was identified that 11 (24.44%) undergraduate Nursing courses have some curricular component with content aimed at caring for people with disabilities. In total, 13 subjects were found, of which six (46.15%) are mandatory, six (46.15%) elective, and one optional (7.69%), with a workload ranging from 32 to 225 hours.
The mandatory subjects address broader themes, such as Policies and knowledge in family health, Nursing in Primary Care, and Collective Health III: Health care, in which content about people with disabilities appears in a transversal and punctual manner. In contrast, the elective and optional subjects, such as Libras applied to health, Nursing in the care of children with disabilities, and Person with Disability: An Interdisciplinary Health Issue, have a specific focus on the target audience and their relationship with health.
The content covers important themes about nursing care directed at people with disabilities, with the main ones observed being: technical vocabulary in health within the scope of Libras; care for adults with sensory, physical, and intellectual disabilities; sexual and reproductive health; care for children with disabilities with an emphasis on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); as well as the guidelines of the National Policy for the Care of Persons with Disabilities. However, the presence of terms such as people with disabilities and people with special needs can be observed in the description of some curricular components.
DISCUSSION
The analysis revealed that the PPCs of undergraduate Nursing courses at Brazilian Federal Universities seek to expand care practices in all aspects of human development, addressing content that integrates essential aspects for resolutive and evidence-based assistance in various scenarios, considering the inherent singularities of each region in which they are located.
However, regarding nursing assistance to people with disabilities, gaps are still observed in the inclusion of curricular components that address themes and techniques aimed at the comprehensiveness of actions offered to the public, as of the 45 institutions that were part of the analysis, only 11 included subjects and topics related to the community, which represents only an approximate percentage of 25% of the courses.
However, this lack can be justified by the inclusion of the topic Person with Disability in Nursing education only in 2021 with the enactment of the NCG, which introduced the need to integrate issues related to the population at different levels of health care, so that professionals acquire cultural competence and critical thinking for care5. Of the 45 projects evaluated in the first stage, 16 (35.6%) were published after the establishment of this NCG. Of these, only six (13.3%) included subjects or themes in their plans.
Overall, the evaluation highlighted the prevalence of offering the subject of Libras by most courses; however, for the study in question, only the subjects that addressed the specificities of nursing assistance to people with hearing disabilities were considered, such as the subject of Libras applied to health (UFMT-Rondonópolis) and Libras I-Health Area (UFJ), which address, in addition to introductory aspects, content that contributes to communication in the health area with the deaf.
It is emphasized that the importance of teaching Libras is undeniable, both in terms of introductory aspects and the specificities related to the health area. However, a study that evaluated the relevance of the in-person Libras subject in the nursing undergraduate course, which focused on general and conversational aspects, when asked if they considered that the knowledge acquired in the classes was sufficient for providing care to deaf patients, 142 of the 268 undergraduates who participated responded with partially agree, do not agree, neither agree nor disagree, partially disagree, and totally disagree, which highlights the need to incorporate other strategies18.
Moreover, the inclusion of topics related to people with disabilities in subjects with a workload equal to or greater than 100 hours was configured as more prevalent in the evaluated projects. However, an average of 4,000 hours would allow for the inclusion of specific subjects on the theme, without compromising the general training process, enabling inclusive training so that future nurses can ensure comprehensive care for people with disabilities across different life cycles19.
It is worth noting that fragmented content in subjects with extensive and relevant themes for the training of nurses such as: Nursing in Basic Care and Collective Health III: Health care raises the reflection on whether these subjects have the importance recognized by students and teachers in the explanation and approach and whether the assigned workload is sufficient to cover the theme in its entirety.
Regarding the specific subjects in the area, advances are observed in the scope of the themes addressed; however, most are optional or elective. However, the inclusion of specific themes only in elective subjects directly interferes with the acquisition of knowledge by students, who tend to enroll only in subjects in their areas of interest, which can hinder the implementation of strategies that favor the improvement of clinical practices in the context of people with disabilities20.
Despite the advances, terms used to refer to people with disabilities that have been out of use since 1993 were still observed, such as: People with disabilities and 2009 People with special needs, requiring updates to the PPCs to ensure inclusion based on current legislation21. The use of the correct term ensures the understanding that disability is not the whole but rather a part of the lives of people with disabilities and that this advancement comes from the achievements of the struggles for rights and social inclusion.
The findings of this study provide contributions to the field of Nursing by highlighting the need to strengthen professional training focused on the care of people with disabilities. By identifying gaps in the approach to the theme in the curricula of undergraduate courses, the study will allow for the reformulation of pedagogical and structural practices that ensure the preparation of future nurses to act in front of the public. In addition, the results can support the formulation of educational policies and guidelines that encourage the inclusion of content and practices aimed at accessibility, inclusive communication, and comprehensive care.
CONCLUSION
It is considered that, based on the analysis of the Pedagogical Projects of the Nursing Courses of Brazilian Federal Universities conducted in this study, it was evident that there are still visible gaps regarding the inclusion of specific content aimed at nursing assistance to people with disabilities. Furthermore, there was a low incidence of mandatory subjects on the topic, associated with the predominance of fragmented or optionally offered content, which may compromise the comprehensive and inclusive training of future professionals in this aspect and directly impact the care of people with disabilities. The recent inclusion of the topic in the National Curriculum Guidelines of 2021 partially explains this scenario, but also reinforces the need for review and updating of the PPCs to ensure a more structured, critical, and effective approach to the theme.
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FUNDING
This study was conducted with the support of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil (CAPES) - through the Abdias Nascimento Academic Development Program.
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HOW TO REFERENCE THIS ARTICLE:
Luzia FJM, Carneiro JB, Grimaldi MRM, de Oliveira PMP. Training in nursing and care for people with disabilities: curricular analysis in the Brazilian context. Cogitare Enferm [Internet]. 2026 [cited “insert year, month and day”];31:e100321en. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1590/ce.v31i0.100321en
Data availability:
The authors declare that all data are fully available within the article.
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Associate editor:
Dra. Luciana de Alcantara Nogueira
