2016 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 126-135
Objectives: We examined the items important for the community assessment of nutrition and dietary habits as recognized by public health nurses for use in the development of assessment tools for health promotion policies.
Methods: An anonymous self-reported questionnaire was sent by mail to 504 public health nurses working for over 11 years in the municipality. The questionnaire comprised questions related to three categories: community profile, community risk analysis, and community strength. The importance and accessibility of 77 items in the questionnaire were surveyed. We analyzed the data using weighted averages.
Results: The important and accessible items included population structure, health conditions such as Certification of Needed Long-Term Care, and specific health checkup. The important but inaccessible items included cause of death, lifestyle, health services, and medical specialists.
Conclusion: The data for a longitudinal analysis are accumulated when important data are collected by selecting appropriate assessment items for health policy development. Thus, a longitudinal analysis can enable health policy development.
