Effectiveness of the competency development program for new employed public health nurses

Objective:To examine the effectiveness of the program for the professional competency development of public health nurse (PHN) which was developed on the basis of action research principles for graduate school students at the beginning and later improved for newly employed PHNs in the practice field. Methods: The objects are 6 PHNs who were employed in 2009 by a city in Japan. The program was implemented during the 2009 fiscal year, which included each PHN's reflective practice with the support of each preceptor and 5 group sessions every two months with two researchers as learning facilitators. For quantitative outcome evaluation, self-reported before-after questionnaires were conducted using a practice skills ladder and some competency measurements for PHNs. For qualitative evaluation of change process, context interpretation was conducted by researchers using literal recording data of all sessions, PHNs descriptions on worksheets and e-mails between preceptors and researchers. Results: All PHNs moved up their practice skills ladder with a range from 3 to 11 items out of 11 and the mean was 8. The improvement confirmed on the score of ²Scale for Basic Action for Public Health² among 4 PHNs out of 6, and the score of ²Competency Measurement of Creation² and ²Professional Development Scale² among 5 PHNs out of 6. Qualitative analysis showed their change process in developing their specialty. Conclusion: The effectiveness of the program to develop professional PHN competency was thus proved although there are differences among PHNs.