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Bringing the Population into Focus: A Natural Development in Community Health Nursing Practice. Part I.
Author(s) -
Diekemper Margaret,
SmithBattle Lee,
Drake Mary Ann
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
public health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1525-1446
pISSN - 0737-1209
DOI - 10.1046/j.1525-1446.1999.00003.x
Subject(s) - nursing , focus group , population , perspective (graphical) , health care , medical education , medicine , psychology , sociology , political science , environmental health , artificial intelligence , anthropology , computer science , law
An interpretive study conducted in a Midwestern metropolitan area was designed to examine expertise in everyday community health nursing (CHN) practice. Twenty‐five nurses from three practice areas (traditional, nontraditional, and program development) participated in group and individual interviews and field observations, sharing stories of their practice. Transcribed interviews and field observation notes were analyzed as a text. One of the major findings of the study focused on experiences of the nurses as they developed the population aspects of their everyday practice. Part I describes the natural development of a population focus of CHN generalists whose care most often targeted individuals and families. The stories of how their practices evolved and were supported by their institutions provided insights into how nurses develop a broad population‐focused practice perspective. Part II examines the practice of those CHN specialists who nurse their target populations from an intentional perspective. Their population‐focused practice, in which they repeatedly displayed what the research team terms multilingual and multiperspectival skills, was solidly based in their prior individual and family‐focused experience and expertise in program planning and evaluation.