2022 Volume 42 Pages 928-936
Purpose: To identify the challenges in carrying out the activities of branch health nurses in widely merged municipalities, including depopulated areas.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with public health nurses in wide -area merged municipalities with branch office functions, after which the verbatim recordings were analyzed qualitatively and descriptively.
Results: The following issues related to the challenges of depopulated areas were identified: “Health services need to take into account the declining birthrate, ageing population and inconvenience of transportation,” “Dealing with the high number of developmental and psychological disorders amidst a lack of social resources and professionals,” In addition, the challenges of branch office operations in depopulated areas were identified: “Competence required for a single person to take responsibility for overall health and welfare work in depopulated areas,” “Remote branch operations and experience desired for mid-level public health nurses and above, but few personnel,” Finally, the challenges of the dual structure, where the operations of the main office differs from the operations of the branch offices in depopulated areas were identified: “Dealing with operations after transferring to a branch office where operations and local conditions differ greatly.” Overall, 8 categories were identified .
Conclusions: While there are issues that arise from the characteristics of depopulated areas, it is important to develop the competence of public health nurses with branch office work in mind, as a solution to the issues that public health nurses can deal with in carrying out the activities of branch office public health nurses.
