Aim: This study aimed to clarify the primary features of healthcare provided by public health nurses (PHNs) to participants (including family members and bystanders) of a public health program designed to increase physical exercise to prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Methods: Clinical participant observation was conducted at a public health program designed to prevent NCDs. The practices of five PHNs in three cities were observed. Data on participants, opportunities, and nursing practices were obtained from clinical notes and categorized according to similarities.

Results: The occasions were categorized such as, “Call over during the preparation.” The nursing practices for the participants included “support efficient and safe exercise according to each participant’s physical and mental condition.” The nursing practices for the participants’ families included “support health condition and promote exercise among the family as a whole”. And that for the bystanders included “support for promoting exercise and health status with the aim to develop the program.”

Discussion: Based on the nursing principal of responsibility to the community, the following features of nursing practice were identified: PHNs should provide care to participants, participants’ families, and bystanders; care should be provided throughout the program; PHNs should support safe and independent exercise habits, compensate the high-risk approach, and utilize meetings with families and residents to further develop the program and support their health.

Purpose: This qualitative study aimed to describe how municipal public health nurses collaborated with institutions to support families at a high risk of child abuse.

Participants and Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six municipal public health nurses to understand how they developed working relationships with institutions to support families at a high risk of child abuse. Qualitative and descriptive analyses were employed using the data that was obtained.

Results: The nurses were found to have made correct decisions on the fly about whether such collaboration was necessary and, if necessary, to “cooperate actively with possible partners.” By encouraging both mothers and their children with complicated backgrounds and the institutions to reliably link together, the nurses “paved a road to bridge both.” They worked to “make a system for cooperative support.” With the sentiments of mothers in mind, they “cooperatively supported them to prevent child abuse” and made an “evaluation of their cooperative support.” Through their daily activities, they also “set the stage to engage themselves in smooth collaboration.” Moreover, the results suggest that when they had difficulty supporting their clients, it was important that they felt supported both within and outside of their workplaces.

Discussion: The public health nurses interviewed for this study undertook efforts to build trusting relationships with institutions concerned about their daily activities to enhance the effectiveness of their collaborations.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationships between organizational commitment, individual characteristics, and group cohesiveness among members of community organizations for the elderly which were depended on voluntary participation of members. Active organizational commitment is one of elements that can improve the activity of the organizations.

Methods: A collective survey using an anonymized questionnaire was completed by participants in community organizations that cater to the elderly. The questionnaire assessed respondents’ personal attributes, characteristics of their participation in the organization, task cohesiveness, group cohesiveness, and organizational commitment. Univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression analyses were used for statistical analysis.

Results: The effective response rate was 88.0% (n=183). A majority of respondents were female (80.3%), aged over 75 years (54.6%), and 35.7% were leaders who were the member of the community organizations and running their organizations. Submeasures of organizational commitment—emotional, group identification, and normative commitment—were all related to age. Furthermore, affective commitments were associated with task cohesiveness, normative commitments with member cohesiveness, and group-identification commitments with task and member cohesiveness. In addition, group identification was significantly higher for leaders than for members.

Conclusion: Maintaining emotional commitment is important for increasing organizational commitment among members of community organizations for the elderly. Moreover, it is important to support operations that involve not only leaders but also regular members.

Purpose: This qualitative study aimed to describe the experiences of spouses who are raising their children while living with partners who have mental disorders.

Methods: Individual interviews were conducted with 10 spouses (8 wives and 2 husbands) raising children aged under 18 years. The transcripts were descriptively analyzed.

Results: The following six categories of spouse experiences emerged: (1) Confused and bombarded by their partner’s mental illness; (2) Driven into a corner with a lower quality of life due to worsening disease conditions; (3) Anxiety about providing explanations to their children and the effects of the partner’s illness on them; (4) Isolation due to stigma and a lack of understanding of the illness; (5) Rescue by someone who understands and offers support; and (6) Wondering whether to continue the marriage. Consequently, these experiences led the spouses to contemplate whether to continue the marriage.

Discussion: Learning opportunities, supporting spouses to accept their partner’s disorder, opportunities to better understand their social support, and support for children must be provided to spouses who want to continue their marriage.