Features and Directions of Group Support Practices by Public Health Nurses : A Synthesis of Qualitative Studies for Providing a Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Over the past decade, the several articles have been reported which describes the group support practices by public health nurses (PHNs). This article reports a synthesis of these studies. The purpose of the synthesis was to provide an organized viewpoint for group support practices by PHNs and to clarify a direction of the practices. Methods were based on Miles & Huberman's text on qualitative data analysis. Results of the synthesis indicated that group support practices by PHNs can be divided into the three directions, i.e., practices for the formation of the groups, practices for the autonomy of the groups, and practices for the expansion of group activities towards the community. Among these directions, the second and the third directions seemed to be typical of PHNs' group support practices. It was indicated that PHNs work on these practices not only from the group perspectives but also from the community empowerment perspectives.