Community Health Activities Considered Important by Municipal Public Health Nurses during The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Aim: To gain insight into the community health activities of municipal public health nurses (PHNs) during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by using descriptive statistics to identify community activity approaches that these PHNs considered important during the pandemic.

Methods: We listed 78 community health activity approaches as questionnaire items. The approaches were based on an interview survey of municipal PHNs. We then conducted a questionnaire survey on the approaches with PHNs in 682 municipalities, selected by using stratified random sampling after classification of the municipalities across Japan into six groups by population size. In one municipality, one PHN responded to the survey.

Results: Data from 270 public health nurses were analyzed (valid response rate: 39.6%). The calculated results revealed that the top five community health activity approaches that the PHNs came to consider important during the COVID-19 pandemic were: “continue projects while reducing their content and frequency,” “utilize data such as the NDB (the national database of health insurance claims and specific health checkups of Japan), KDB (kokuho [national health insurance] database), and long-term care database,” “implement health projects by utilizing ICT,” “downsize other projects in order to implement priority activities,” and “gain an understanding of the health status of residents by making use of various opportunities.”

Conclusion: Municipal PHNs placed emphasis on community health activity approaches aimed at continuing projects under circumstances where face-to-face support was restricted.