Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish a method of public health nurses’ practice for promoting cooperation of incomers and existing inhabitants in solving health problems in a community.

Method: The case examined in the study was one in which a public health nurse promoted the cooperation of incomers and existing inhabitants for solving regional health problems in a community of a cottage area where the ratio of incomers among elderly people was large. The method of the study consisted of interviews with the public health nurse. The object of the study was to elicit the process of practice of the public health nurse from the preparation to presentation. The whole process of the practice was then divided into a number of “methods” over a period of time. These elicited “methods” were then consolidated into several “stages” by making borders when the content of practice was changed.

Result: The whole process of the public nurse’s practice for 31 years was categorized into 33 “methods” and 5 “stages.” These “stages” were represented as “constant comprehension of elderly people’s lives in the community”, “recruiting of a person who might act as a key member of a community organization”, “cultivation of relationships among people who joined the community organization”, “support in outreach to other people before self-organization of the community organization”, and “support in outreach to other people after self-organization of the community organization” over time.

Discussion: These 5 “stages” were then generalized, and categorized into 4 “stages” from the point of view of promoting cooperation among incomers and existing inhabitants. The five “stages” were represented as “clarification of regional health problems as to incomers and existing inhabitants”, “recruit of a person from incomers and existing inhabitants for solution of regional health problems, and request for cooperation to the related organizations”, “cultivation of relationships between incomers and existing inhabitants for making a community organization which could be a core for solution of regional health problems” and “support in outreach to other people by incomers and existing inhabitants for solution of regional health problems which was the common concern to be solved for incomers and existing inhabitants.”

Objectives: This study aimed to clarify how the outpatient nurses collect information and use it to recognize the home care needs of their patients.

Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with eighteen outpatient nurses in 15 hospitals regarding the patients whose home care needs they had identified and supported. The interview data were transcribed, coded, and categorized to analyze the collected information.

Results: Based on the analysis, we extracted 41 subcategories and 6 major categories such as “patient’s state of treatment and symptoms”，“patient’s state at arrival to hospital”，“state of the patient’s companion during hospital visit”，“patient’s state at home”，“self-management and self-care”，and “recognition and application status of patients and caregivers related to home care”．

Conclusion: The results revealed that outpatient nurses observe the changes in the states of both outpatients and their companions and inspect the outpatients’ situations at home using nursing practices such as interviews. It is necessary to determine how much the home care needs of outpatients are grasped through these practices and to develop a system of providing adequate support for them.

Purpose: The present study aimed to clarify how foster parents approach their families about becoming foster parents, and their reactions, to improve our understanding of foster families and obtain suggestions for nursing.

Method: A semi-structured interview was conducted with individuals who have been foster parents for more than 1 year. The data obtained were transcribed verbatim in each case, and codified data were categorized and classified.

Results: The foster parents’ approach was [sharing facts to become a foster family]. The family’s responses were [to positively accept becoming a foster family] or [to accept being a foster family with anxiety].

Conclusion: Foster families became families based on their determination to support foster children. To support foster families, it is effective to create a maternal and child health service system that can be easily utilized by foster families. Public health nurses are also actively involved in foster parent support.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the anxieties of those parents of preschool children with developmental disabilities who go to a development support center, and the factors related to consultation requests to a parent mentor.

Method: The questionnaire survey targeted parents of preschool children who have developed developmental disabilities or suspected difficulties from the age of three. Data were collected on presence / absence of diagnosis of developmental disorder, each child’s behavioral and living problems, the parents’ own anxieties, the mentor’s level of awareness and hope in the consultation process, the willingness to become a mentor, etc. Data were analyzed using χ² test and logistic regression analysis.

Result: More than 80% of parents’ responded to the questions concering difficulties with the child’s behavior, with daily life, and with their own anxieties. The person who has the diagnosis of the developmental disorder, the person who experiences uneasiness of the interpersonal relationship with the consultation party, and the person who is willing to become a mentor, all had a lot of hope invested in consulting to the mentor.

Conclusion: Many of the parents of preschool children with developmental disorders who go to a development support center had anxieties around the problems with their children as well as with themselves, and there was an investment of hope in the consultation with a mentor. The hope of seeking consultation with a mentor was most relevant to the hope of becoming a mentor and going on to support other parents in the future. What we need from now on is that parents can safely consult with the mentor, be a future mentor and be able to support other parents.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore how visiting nurse agency staff perceive the novice nurses’ development and support them for a year after graduation.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted three times in a year with twelve staff from two visiting nursing agencies that had recruited novice nurses for the first time. The interview data were analyzed qualitatively.

Result: The staff perceived the novice nurses’ development as follows: “having tensions, but also having enough basic knowledge and powers of observation for being with patients” immediately after graduation; “some anxiety and impatience, but with an emerging self-awareness as a nurse, capable of certain level of practice” after beginning independent visits; and “capable of taking responsibility and basic visiting nurse practice depending on the circumstances” after one year. To encourage the development of the novices as nurses, the staff provided the following support: “preparing the correct environment and practicing with the novices by demonstrating staff’s work” immediately after graduation; “providing feedback and compensating for the novices work” after starting independent visits; and “accumulating the novices’ experience through checking their work and clarifying issues” after one year.

Discussion: These findings suggest that the novices employed in visiting nurse agencies developed in stages until capable of basic visiting nurse work one year after beginning employment. The staff supported the novices with support tailored to the stages of their development by “demonstrating staff’s work,” “monitoring the novices,” and “checking the novices’ work.”