The construction of interdisciplinary knowledge in networks: limitations and possibilities of a research group

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to understand the connections between the Study, Teaching and Research Center of the Primary Healthcare School Program and the institutions involved in the care delivered to children and teenagers, as well as the activities of education, research and outreach. This descriptive-exploratory qualitative study was performed with the Department of Maternal-Child and Public Health Nursing of the Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, University of São Paulo. Data collection was performed by means of the mapping of the connection of the outer institutional network. The subjects were nine members of the referred center. The closest partners were other centers in the College, and the most distant, geographically, were the international institutions; and connections with the latter were either weak or inexistent. Increasing significant connections, with a purpose to strengthen the network, is a great challenge for the center.

Descriptors: Research Groups; Education, Nursing; Interdisciplinary Communication; Social Networking.