Competencies of Nurses in a Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program

Ji Yun Lee; Kyung Ja June; Sung-Hyun Cho

doi:10.12799/jkachn.2017.28.4.397

Journal List > J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs > v.28(4) > 1058482

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Lee, June, and Cho: Competencies of Nurses in a Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program

Original Article

J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs 2017;28(4):397-409.

Published online: 12 December 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2017.28.4.397

Competencies of Nurses in a Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program

Ji Yun Lee¹, Kyung Ja June², Sung-Hyun Cho³

¹College of Nursing · Health Care Research Center, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea

²Department of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Korea

³College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Lee, Ji Yun College of Nursing, Kangwon National University, 1 Gangwondaehak-gil, Chuncheon 24341, Korea. Tel: +82-33-250-8885, Fax: +82-33-242-8840, E-mail: leejiyun@kangwon.ac.kr

Received 26 May 2017 Revised 3 November 2017 Accepted 3 November 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

Competency is a key foundation of the nursing education curriculum and a baseline element of nursing practice. The purpose of this study was to explore the competencies of community health nurses in a maternal early childhood sustained home-visiting program based on nurses’ field experiences.

Methods

The participants were 21 nurses who had more than 1 year of experience in this program. Reflective interviews were performed; lasting 1 hour per nurse, on August 18, 2016, and the collected data were analyzed using qualitative directed content analysis.

Results

Twenty-four themes were extracted for 9 competencies. The major themes included implementing a long-term relationship-based approach, providing client-led service rather than expert-led service, helping mothers with psychosocial difficulties, and applying skills in a practical manner in the home environment.

Conclusion

In order to develop a home-visiting program as part of maternal-early childhood nursing practice, nurses should develop competencies that help them make significant and positive interventions. Results indicate that the curriculum for community health nurses should be changed to improve competencies in building relationships with clients and to focus on the application of skills in specific cases and in clinical practice.

Keywords: Competency-based education, Nurses, Community health, Qualitative research

References

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Table 1.

Competencies and Sub-Competencies Based on Reflective Interviews of Nurses with Experience in Sustained Maternal Early Childhood Home Visits

Competency	Sub-competency
1. Communicating effectively and working in partnership	•Exploring the family
	•Understanding the mother's situation
	•Making conversation supportively
	•Approaching the client with a focus on relationships
	•Keeping professional boundaries
2. Using evidence-based knowledge and skills	•Helping significantly depressed mothers
	•Making clinical judgments about mothers with a mental illness
	•Systematically engaging in sustained visits
	•Promoting family change
3. Working collaboratively with colleagues, and a multidisciplinary team	•Collaborating with colleagues
	•Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team
4. Undertaking group work	•Leading meeting with mothers
5. Using a primary health care approach	•Making clinical judgments about the baby’s health
6. Building the capacity and resilience of the family	•Using the strengths of the family
6. Building the capacity and resilience of the family	•Focusing on positive changes in the family
7. Having professional knowledge	•Managing the health of the postpartum mother and new born baby
	•Having basic knowledge of parenting (feeding, caring etc.)
	•Having knowledge of child development and play
8. Applying practical skills	•Making careful observations
	•Modelling
	•Providing anticipatory guidance
	•Coping flexibly according to the family's situation
9. Working ‘with’ and supporting the family	•Facilitating family-led participation
9. Working ‘with’ and supporting the family	•Protecting and supporting the family

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