This study verified the effectiveness of evaluation activity by using the Teaching-Learning Process Evaluation Scale for In-Service Education to improve teaching activities by nurse instructors. The effectivesness of the activities was examined in terms of the quality of the teaching-learning process and the changes in teaching activity perceived by the instructors. The teaching-learning process for 11 groups of nurse instructors was evaluated by their trainees through the scale. A guide prepared by the researchers was used to interpret and apply the results. Subsequently, the instructors conducted another training course and were evaluated by their trainees. We found that the quality of the teaching-learning process was significantly higher after the evaluation activities(t = -3.777, p < .001), and that all instructors reported improvements in teaching activity. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of evaluation activity using a scale in improving nurse instructors' teaching activities.

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The purpose of this study was to identify the difficulties encountered by hospital nurses while conducting research as part of their in-service education and the methods the nurses used to overcome those difficulties. A questionnaire was developed for this study, consisting of open-ended questions about the difficulties of conducting research and methods used to overcome those difficulties. Content validity was established through pilot studies conducted twice. A content analysis method for nursing education based on Berelson's method was used for analyzing the data. Five hundred and twenty-four hospital nurses (56.0%) who have conducted nursing research as part of their in-service education returned answers by mail, and 450 valid returns were analyzed. As a result, difficulties encountered by the hospital nurses were categorized into twenty categories and the methods that they used to overcome them, into twenty-four categories. The reliability of these was confirmed by agreement rates calculated by Scott's formula. They were both more than 70%. The results indicated that hospital nurses encounter many difficulties when conducting research and have to conduct their research without overcoming the difficulties completely. It suggests a need to reconsider the issue of nursing research that hospital nurses are obliged to conduct as part of their in-service education.

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The purpose of this study was to identify the behaviors of senior nurses that new graduate nurses perceived as supportive, unsupportive and to discuss characteristics of how new graduate nurses perceived the behaviors of senior nurses. The instrument was open-ended questionnaire asking what the behaviors of senior nurses that new graduate nurses perceived as supportive and unsupportive. It was mailed to 679 hospital based new graduate nurses in Japan. Out of 270 received, 238 responses describing the supportive behaviors, 106 responses describing the unsupportive behaviors. These data were analyzed by the qualitative analysis in nursing education based on Berelson's content analysis method. As a result, 32 categories of behaviors of senior nurses that new graduate nurses perceived as supportive, such as "Helping a new graduate nurses with work they cannot do by providing guidance or assistance" and 24 categories of behaviors that they perceived as unsupportive, such as "Pointing out faults or mistakes " were clarified. The agreement rates calculated by the formula of W.A. Scott were over 70%, therefore the reliability of these categories was confirmed. The results suggest that 10 characteristics of how new graduate nurses perceived supportive and unsupportive behaviors of senior nurses.

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The objective of this study was to conceptualize the occupational experiences of proficient nurses who go to graduate schools of nursing, and to clarify their features. Methodology for Conceptualization of Nursing was adopted. Data was collected from 15 nurses who had graduated from graduate schools of nursing, through semi-structured interviews. As a result, 15 concepts emerged representing the occupational experiences of proficient nurses who go to graduate schools of nursing, including: (a)transition from suffering nursing practice to smoothing, (b)accompanying bearing new roles by longer experiences, and being motivated to the occupation by accomplishing the roles, (c)compensating lack of knowledge and skills by continuing learning, (d)suffering from keeping consistent occupational activity with private activity, and keeping consistent, (e)adapting to working environment, and repeating work from habit by adapting, (f)encountering with role model nurses, and identifying with role models, (g)suffering from multi-disciplinary work because of difficulty about utilization of technical knowledge and skills, and multi-disciplinary work by utilization, (h)enriching levels of goals by repeating to set and achieve goals, and hesitating to continue with occupation by losing goals. The study demonstrated characteristic of occupational experiences that proficient nurses who go to graduate schools of nursing repeat to set and achieve their goals and gradually enrich the levels of goals. These findings suggest that there is an importance to set goals for nurses and a need to support them to set their appropriate occupational goals.

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