[Nursing diagnosis made in elderly people with mental disorders]

This is a descriptive, exploratory study with a qualitative and quantitative approach, whose aim is to identify Nursing diagnosis in elderly people suffering from mental disorders. Forty-eight elders of the mental open clinic were interviewed, by means of an instrument on quality of life, translated and validated. Data collected helped to identify sixteen Nursing diagnoses, based in North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA). The most common ones were those related to difficulties in daily activities in an individual going through the aging process, such as: dysfunctional sorrow feeling, lack of recreational activity (83.%); impaired walking (81.2%), risk of trauma (68.7%), and anxiety (62.5%).