title: Users' participation in nursing care: an element of the Theory of Goal Attainment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Users' participation in care has been acknowledged as a key factor to improve health services.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the Theory of Goal Attainment and to discuss the explicit and implicit relations between the Theory and the phenomenon of users' participation in nursing care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Theoretical analysis of the Theory of Goal Attainment.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analysis phase of the Framework for Analysis and Evaluation of Nursing Theories was applied. Then, the explicit and implicit relations between the Theory and the phenomenon of users' participation were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Users' participation in nursing care is an element of the Theory of Goal Attainment, although limited to the goal setting and the means to achieve them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The choice for users' participation in care is a right defended in health policies around the world. The Theory of Goal Attainment is an appropriate guide to nurses in defense of users' participation in nursing care.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nursing Fundamentals, Anna Nery School of Nursing , Federal University of Rio de Janeiro , 275, Afonso Cavalcanti St, Cidade Nova, Rio de Janeiro 20.211-110 , Brazil.
authors.forename: Rodrigo Nogueira
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: a Department of Nursing Fundamentals, Anna Nery School of Nursing , Federal University of Rio de Janeiro , 275, Afonso Cavalcanti St, Cidade Nova, Rio de Janeiro 20.211-110 , Brazil.|b National Council for Scientific and Technological Development , Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation , Brasília , Brazil.|c Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination , Brazilian Ministry of Education , Brasília , Brazil.
authors.forename: Márcia de Assunção
authors.initials: Mde A
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D006040:Goals; D009736:Nursing Process; D009742:Nursing Theory; D010358:Patient Participation
keywords: consumer participation; nurse–patient relations; nursing process; nursing theory; patient empowerment; patient involvement; patient participation