Objective: To investigate scientific evidence related to the term protection and clinical indicators and etiologic factors for nursing diagnosis Ineffective protection in adolescents with cancer.
Method: Integrative literature review in the databases of Scopus, Web of Science, National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health (PubMed) and Cochrane; by intersection of the descriptors protection and childhood cancer, which resulted in seven articles. These were insufficient for a comprehension of the term protection and aspects related to its impairment, therefore it was necessary to include a further three reference books.
Results: Five clinical indicators and three etiologic factors associated to Ineffective protection were identified some of which were not cited in NANDA-International.
Conclusions: There are clinical and etiologic factors important for the identification of ineffective protection in adolescents with cancer.