Introduction

Professional autonomy corresponds to the performance of nursing actions by using skills, knowledge, and attitudes to make decisions and solve situations in their work setting.

Objective

to analyze the social representations of the nurse's autonomy for academics of the final graduation period in nursing from a federal university. Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study defined from the theory of social representations in its procedural approach, carried out with 20 nursing academics during their last period of a federal university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and discursive productions were analyzed through the content analysis method.

Results

The study constructed five analysis categories.

Discussion

It was verified that the social representations of professional autonomy of nursing students are in the construction process, based on management, invasive practices, and nursing consultation. Autonomy is also related to predominantly individual care.

Conclusions

The representation of professional autonomy is linked to current technologies and to the historical dimensions of the profession, as well as to the need for new studies to understand the phenomena.

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