Abstract
Objective: To clarify the collaboration methods used by municipal public health nurses in regional and cross-occupational collaboration as well as the outcomes perceived by public health nurses and the associated underlying factors. Method: A self-administered survey questionnaire was distributed to 350 public health nurses working in municipal governments around Japan, except for Tokyo, and who were in charge of adult health. Two hundred and seventeen valid responses were collected (62.0%). Results: Cluster analysis of the outcome items suggested five classification categories. In terms of collaboration perceived by public health nurses, outcomes most frequently reported included "understanding more deeply the health issues facing the working generation" at 76.5% and "formation of a relationship of mutual trust with related professionals" at 54.6%. Collaboration methods that involved a collaboration promotion council and workshops organized by each municipal government also showed a significant positive association with all categories. Discussion: As a result of cross-occupational collaboration, public health nurses acquire new perception into outcomes, including "decreased burden of work", "identification of methods to evaluate health services", and "capacity to cut expenditure on items such as venue rental costs". Furthermore, while some outcomes such as deepening the understanding of public health nurses about the working generation are relatively easy to achieve, outcomes such as improvements in tangible indicators and results are more difficult to acquire, possibly due to insufficient time for collaborative projects. Offering collaboration promotion councils and workshops organized by municipal governments may be an effective method to enlist collaboration.
