Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore professional skills of public health nurses (PHNs) at the first health guidance to enable subjects' decision-making in setting behavioral goals for the prevention of lifestyle related diseases. Method: The study design was a qualitative semi-structured interview study with five expert PHNs in three municipalities. A qualitative content analysis was performed focusing on PHNs professional intention, settings and intervention and so on at the first health guidance to enable subjects' decision-making in setting behavioral goals for the prevention of lifestyle related diseases. Transcripts were inductively analyzed. Results: Seventy-three<sub categories>, 19<<categories>>, and six 【core categories】 were explored as the professional skills of PHNs; 【Building value of health in client's life】, 【Encouraging taking initiative in building behavioral objective】, 【Finding the cause of health problem in client 's life】, 【Taking priority in retaining quality of life】, 【Working together on setting effective goal】 and 【Decision making of behavioral goal with looking ahead to client's future health】. Conclusion: It was found that for subjects' decision-making in setting behavioral goals for the prevention of lifestyle related diseases, PHNs built the value of health into the client's life, and encouraged taking initiative in building behavior goals. In addition, PHNs allowed the subjects to get accustomed to the behavioral goal, while sharing the process with them.
