Importance of mental health nursing care: an ethnographic approach in university professors

Introduction: A qualitative study was developed based on nursing care in mental health, which is a pillar in university education and in the performance of the role, since it is a priority to intervene from all the dimensions of the being. Objective: To interpret the meanings about nursing care in mental health held by the professors of the nursing faculty of a university in eastern Colombia. Method: qualitative research with ethnographic approach, use of techniques to obtain data from semi-structured interviews, field diary and observations; ethnographic analysis was carried out according to Clifford Geertz, where categories emerge, resulting in a general matrix that leads to a dense description. Results: in the ethnographic analysis two major categories were identified, one is mental health as a construct, and the other is integral health care, within these a series of subcategories that explain the study phenomenon are deployed, thus achieving a dense description. Conclusion: it was evidenced that the meanings of nursing care in mental health become diverse according to the expertise, it was also identified that the experiences lived by each teacher mark the daily actions in teaching the formation of the nursing role, showing the importance in all cases of assuming nursing care in mental health for the comprehensive care of individuals, families and communities.