2021 Volume 24 Issue 1 Pages 13-22
Objective: To clarify realization experiences of professional development by newly appointed public health nurses with no previous local government work in outsource-type district comprehensive support centers.
Method: Nine public health nurses working for six outsource-type district comprehensive support centers in prefecture A with at least 1 year and <6 years of practical experience and no previous local government work were included. In this qualitative descriptive research, data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Contents related to realization experiences of professional development were extracted from interview data and categorized based on similarity; a group with the highest-level categories was referred to as an aspect.
Results: Realization experiences of professional development were represented by the following four aspects: [approach toward a community to build a relationship of trust with residents], [realization of health education tailored to small group characteristics], [alliance network formation through responses to individual cases], and [considering group development as an opportunity for community-oriented improvement]. The aspect of [considering group development as an opportunity for community-oriented improvement] comprised <trial and error within the comprehensive support center for group establishment>, <challenges to group establishment based on models>, and <consciousness of public health nurses’ role via group development>.
Discussion: Newly appointed public health nurses of outsource-type district comprehensive support centers improved their cooperative skills via accumulation of individual cases. They presumably acquired a broader perspective to cover the entire community and realized professional development as public health nurses for group development based on a community development model available outside the support center.
