Introduction:

Unintentional injuries in early childhood represent a health problem due to their frequency, magnitude, severity and transcendence. The prevention of such injuries is complex and in the primary care, the nursing professional can and should exercise an important function directed to that end.

Objective:

Describe the design and validation of an instrument for evaluation of the level of knowledge nurses have about unintentional injuries in early childhood.

Methods:

Methodological study that based the design of the instrument on the scientific literature and the validation in criterion of experts, who It included national and international nurses, pedagogues, pediatric doctors and epidemiologists. The level of competence was measured by the coefficient K. The concordance was measured by Cohen's Kappa Index. To measure comprehension, a pilot test was carried out, with 16 nurses from the Policlínico Área I of the Cienfuegos municipality. The reliability of internal consistency was calculated with the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient using the statistical program Epidat.

Results:

A reliable and valid instrument was obtained that allows assessing the level of knowledge about unintentional injuries in early childhood.

Conclusions:

The use of the designed and validated instrument was a point of reference for the identification level of knowledge and the design of educational interventions in the community.