Healthcare Professional Viewpoints Regarding the Identification of Community Traits:

Reconstruction of a Concept and Framework for Understanding a Community

Abstract

　The importance of understanding community traits, including social and cultural aspects, in health care delivery has recently been pointed out. Although various methods of understanding regional traits have been considered, healthcare professionals' viewpoints regarding the understanding of community traits have not yet been examined. Through an interview survey, this study aimed to clarify healthcare professionals' viewpoints regarding their understanding of community traits. The survey results indicated that healthcare professionals: (1) assessed the community by the narrower range of city or ward, (2) held a view focusing on the differences within the same community as well as shared traits or common qualities beyond the geographical viewpoint, and (3) held a view that related each of the different aspects of the community to one another. These results indicated the importance of thinking of the range of a community as encompassing more than its areas of activities of daily living, and of emphasizing the relationship between factors that construct community, instead of lapsing into the habit of analyzing each factor, for understanding a community. Therefore, healthcare professionals were not merely using the conventional conceptual framework but also reconstructing it through their practice.