Factors associated with the utilization of community assessment models among Japanese nurses

Abstract

Objectives This study aimed to identify factors related to the practical utilization of community health needs assessment (CHNA) models that public health nurses (PHNs) learned in their fundamental education. Design A nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted via postal mail. Sample We randomly selected 630 public health institutes in Japan. The participants were 3397 full‐time novice and mid‐level PHNs. Measurements The questionnaire included the participants’ basic personal information, six items regarding the perception of CHNA with a 4‐point Likert scale, learned models in their undergraduate education, their utilization in practical settings, and the reasons for their answer in narrative form. Results There were 951 valid responses. The results of logistic regression showed that the significant positively factors with model utilization were perception of CHNA as “not troublesome” or “not impossible as they learned,” continuing education with 5 years of experience, and identification of the learned model in continuing education. Furthermore, the results of text mining showed the reasons for non‐utilization of the model included being “busy” and having a lack of “opportunity.” Conclusions This study showed the associated factors with rare utilization of a learned model for PHNs. These findings may suggest improvement of continuing education and development of an appropriate assessment model.

Effectiveness of a web‐based learning program for promoting local healthcare planning competencies

“…However, many PHNs have faced difficulties with conducting community nursing assessment in their daily practices (Shiomi et. al., 2022). Additionally, personnel changes in public sectors and local healthcare planning were conducted every few years.…”

“…Nurses are responsible for developing and promoting health policy (Ellenbecker et al., 2017). PHNs are perfectly positioned to assess community health needs (Shiomi et al., 2022) and need to close the gap between practice and policy development (QCC, 2018). Through developing health policies, PHNs could enhance the health of populations in the community (APHA, & Public Health Nursing Section, 2013).…”

“…Community health needs influence the policy development process (Scarlett et al, 2020). Therefore, PHNs are perfectly positioned to improve needs-oriented policy devel-opment in local governments (Shiomi et al, 2022), for which they would need to acquire the required competencies (JMHLW, 2013;JMHLW, 2022). During the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional face-to-face education was rapidly replaced by web-based nursing education (Leaver et al, 2022), which allows people to study at their preferred time and location (Rouleau et al, 2019) Process and outcome evaluations help in the development of evidencebased policy and health services (Haldane et al, 2019).…”

“…Nurses are responsible for developing and promoting health policy (Ellenbecker et al, 2017). PHNs are perfectly positioned to assess community health needs (Shiomi et al, 2022)…”

“…PHNs enhance their policy development competencies through daily routines and career development because practical experience is necessary for competency development (Saeki et al., 2020). However, owing to busyness, PHNs have difficulty assessing community health needs using the methods they learned in their undergraduate education (Shiomi et al., 2022). During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, nurses faced difficulties developing health policies due to rapid changes in community health needs (Catton, 2021).…”