Abstract
The purpose of this research was to explore the practice of expert public health nurses in routine health examinations for children by using the Grounded Theory Approach. This study focused on the process through which public health nurses comprehend and identify their clients.
Data were collected using semi-structural interviews and observation of 17 public health nurses with over 5 years of experience who work in 11 cities of 5 prefectures. The results were analyzed by the continual comparative analysis method.
Findings in this research can be identified as follows: “Identifying the necessity to support clients” was clarified as being an essential first step in providing support for clients. This process was explained by 4 categories: Inspection with sensitivity, Attempting to draw out mothers' true feelings, Clarifying their problems, and Predicting their states of mind. These were simultaneous, repetitious and composite steps when the public health nurses were communicating with the mothers.
These results showed the nursing competencies which public health nurses utilize in routine health examinations for the support of clients. The findings suggest that these can contribute to the improvement of the quality of public health nurses' practice in future.
