Public health nurses' attitudes in dialogue with parents and families in a qualitative descriptive study: A dialogical childrearing support

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to clarify the attitudes of public health nurses (PHNs) endeavor to adopt when engaging in dialogue with parents and families for providing ongoing childrearing support. Methods: This was a qualitative descriptive study. We collected data through semi-structured interviews. The data were qualitatively and inductively analyzed. Results: The study participants were 10 PHNs with 6-30 years of experience; all of them had work experience in areas such as maternal/child health and child welfare. The PHNs' attitudes in the dialogue were as follows; the attitude of overlaying each other's stories, diversifying the narrative and leaving the conclusion to the future, and returning the story to the other party and being ready to resume the dialogue at any time. Conclusions: The PHNs tried to create a story together with the parents and family and continued the dialogue with the aim of letting the parents and family walk the story on their own. We propose a style of support called "dialogical childrearing support" which is the idea of supporting childrearing by continuing dialogue and co-creating the childrearing story.