Abstract
Establishment of systematic continuing education programs based on actual competence is needed. This study aimed to clarify practical competence for public health nurses. Public health nurses working for local governments in four prefectures were provided with self-administrated questionnaires by mail. A total of 3,024 questionnaires were delivered and 1,829 responses were obtained, of which 1,614 (53.4%) were analyzed. The practical competence scale consisted of interpersonal health care competence (IHCC) and community health care and administrative competence (CHCAC). IHCC included "individual and family support" and "means of group support". CHCAC included in "community activities", "policy-making" and "administrative and educational performance". Practical competence developed with career novice.IHCC developed rapidly in beginner nurses, and gradually after that. For CHCAC, "community activities" developed in a manner similar to IHCC. "Policy-making" and "administrative and educational performance" developed slowly with experience. The nurses evaluated IHCC items higher than CHCAC items. The self-evaluated average of practical competence differed significantly in four career groups. From these results, we consider that, in systematic continuing educational programs for public health nurses, developing IHCC is important for novice nurses, and developing policy-making competence is for middle-level nurses.
