Abstract
Maternal and Child Health Volunteers (MCHVs) are collaborators with Public Health Nurses (PHNs) in the community. The objective of this study was to clarify the skills of PHNs for building partnerships with MCHVs through community activities with which PHNs find persons needing support and access to care.
The study was conducted in City A with a population scale of sixty thousand, consisting of a city area and agricultural/fishery area where community health activities for mothers and children were conducted. Data were collected from April 2009 to March 2010 through interviews MCHVs and PHNs in the community, as well as by participating observation by one of the authors as a PHN of the city. We used a qualitative study method to analyze the result.
The skills of PHNs for building partnerships with MCHVs were categorized into five skills. The skills of a PHN who is in charge of supporting an MCHV's activities are the creating significance in an MCHV's activities together with them and the promoting confidence between MCHVs and PHNs. The skills of PHN who is in charge of a district are the assessing the efficacy of MCHV's support, the relying on for cooperation of MCHVs and the helping to maintain high morale among MCHVs.
