Background: Each year there are thousands of children abused in Sweden. This can result in lifelong consequences not only for the children, but also for the society. Verified statistics show an increasing number of child abuse in Sweden in recent years. As per Swedish law, nurses are required to report child abuse, but despite the law requirement the studies indicated that reporting is not always done.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of reporting a suspected child abuse to social services.

Method: A method to contribute to evidence-based nursing based on analysis of qualitative research was performed to deepen understanding. An analysis of eight qualitative research articles was carried out. The analysis resulted in four main categories and nine sub categories.

Results: The main categories were: Worksite factors, barriers for not reporting, personal factors caused by the nurse, lack of or poor functioning cooperation with social services.

Conclusion: This study indicates, that nurses need experience, training, support and information and also clear guidelines and feedback from social services.