Characteristics of the Process of Developing Community Activities of Expert Public Health Nurses

Abstract

Objective: To demonstrate the process of developing community activities, including the thinking of expert public health nurses（PHNs）through practice.

Method: This was a qualitative, inductive, descriptive study. Subjects were 10 expert PHNs. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews and analyzed using M-GTA.

Results: Subjects were PHNs with at least 10 years of experience as well as considerable experience in community activities. The results showed 38 concepts comprising 13 subcategories that fell into 2 categories, namely “increased earnestness” and “earnestness leading to fostering a sense of taking initiative”, and a single core concept of “wanting to do something”.

Discussion: The process of developing community activities by expert PHNs moves from “increased earnestness” to “earnestness leading to fostering a sense of taking initiative”, at the center of which, the core concept of “wanting to do something” is the driving force in motivating the community. PHNs expressed their desire to genuinely improve the community by contemplating community phenomena. This desire had been recorded in the personal records of PHNs with past achievements but was actively demonstrated by our study findings. Although theories and models do not express “increased earnestness”, the process of “earnestness leading to fostering a sense of taking initiative” is a PDCA cycle.

Conclusion: These findings empirically demonstrated the process for developing practical community activities based on the core concept of “wanting to do something”. The core concept was expressed among PHNs who contemplate community phenomena. It was also connected to the PDCA cycle for promoting initiatives among local residents.