• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify community health nursing activities that community health practitioners perceive and their achievements in community by reviewing the community health nursing activities that community health practitioners have done for the last 30 years. Methods: This study was a qualitative study. Thirty one community health practitioners were interviewed using the focus group interview method and data were analyzed using content analysis. Data were collected from April to June in 2011. Results: Community health practitioners perceived themselves as "Community Vitalizers" and 9 categories were identified. They were 'ground to explore new nursing areas', 'assimilation to community', 'ground to establish community diagnosis', 'everyday life health management in the community', 'increased accessibility to medical services for the residents', 'enforced health practices for the residents', 'reinforced self-reliance of community', 'commitment to making a happy village' and 'mental fence of the community.' Conclusion: This study was meaningful in that it explained the unique identity of the community health practitioners and could be used as important basic materials in the process of re-establishment of the roles of Health Offices. Hereafter in-depth study on community competence reinforcement should be made to identify the roles of community health nurses.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the changing process of work activities of community health practitioners in medically vulnerable areas. Methods: For the study an historical research method was used, based on literature data and collected literature data related to the work of community health practitioners from 1940 to 2013. Results: There were 45 records according to the literature data about the work activities of the practitioners. Analysis of the process of work activities by time period was based on the historical records: first, the introduction period (1940~1980) saw the "community health practitioners begin their work activities"; second, the development period (1981~1997) involved "provision of comprehensive health and medical service"; third, the stagnation period (1998~2005) characterized by "attempts at new role changes in a crisis"; fourth, the expansion period (2006~2011) "focused on the work of health promotion"; and finally, the stable period (2012~the present) observed "work activities of community health practitioners recognized." Conclusion: Results showed five topics in the process of work activities of community health practitioners by time period. The results offer basic data to investigate work activities of these practitioners and enable discussions about the future of community healthcare.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.120-127
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was done to identify factors related to job satisfaction according to socioeconomic status and job related factors among community health practitioners. Method: A total of 91 community health practitioners participated in the survey. The survey was performed in November, 2008. The survey instruments included socioeconomic factors, work related factors and job satisfaction. The statistical analysis included frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test and multiple regression. Results: The mean age was $44.03{\pm}5.21$ years, 35.1% graduated from baccalaureate program. Job satisfactions related to wage level and job description had relatively lower score than other items. Job satisfaction was significantly different by education level, marital status, and motivation for choosing to be a community health practitioner. Conclusion: Characteristics of community health practitioners are changing and the Korean government needs to up-date job descriptions and welfare policies according to the higher quality of public health practitioners.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.139-152
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aims to describe and understand the meaning and nature of community health practitioners' coping with COVID-19. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 community health practitioners from August to October 2021, to describe and understand the nature of their coping with COVID-19. The collected data were examined and described based on Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Results: 16 theme clusters and five categories were derived from the community health practitioners' experience of coping with COVID-19. The categories derived were: a war that began without notice, a variety of correspondence tasks assigned, struggling to fulfill given roles, correspondence tasks becoming more systematic, and a fight that has not yet ended. Conclusion: Community health practitioners handled various response tasks related to COVID-19, and faithfully fulfilled their professional roles while performing the primary task of medical care. Hence, attention is required on issues related to the establishment of the national emergency healthcare system and improvement of professional competence of community health practitioners even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Furthermore, it is necessary to make ceaseless efforts to address those issues and, in order to do so, social interest and institutional support are needed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the trends of research on Community Nurse Practitioners in Korea in order to suggest future directions for research on Community Nurse Practitioners. Method: A total of 109 studies published from 1980 to 2006 were analyzed according to the year of publication, research design, journal type, subject type, and major study concepts. Results: 1) The number of studies related to Community Nurse Practitioners increased by 28.4% from 1985 to 1989, and also by 28.4% from 2000 to 2004. 2) The most frequently used research design in the studies was a descriptive study design (90.8%). 3) There were 43 master's theses on Community Nurse Practitioners, and 16 studies in the Journal of Korean Community Nursing. 4) The most frequent participants were Community Nurse Practitioners (68.9%). 5) The most frequent major study concept was job analysis of Community Nurse Practitioner programs (27.5%). Conclusion: It is suggested that there should be more studies on Community Nurse Practitioner programs in the future and, particularly, experimental studies to exam the effects of interventions on health promotion by Community Nurse Practitioners are considered necessary.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the work status of community health practitioners in island areas. Methods: Participants in this study were 59 community health practitioners in primary health care posts located on islands in J Province. Data were collected during December, 2011 and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 program. Results: Characteristics of the majority of community health practitioners in the island areas was that they were over 50 years old, married, and had 10 years job experience, The population under their jurisdiction was less than 200 and they had an average of 6-10 patients/day and worked less than 10 hours/day. Health education and practice were the most common of task, and they had various types of paperwork to complete. They visited senior citizens living alone, managed medications, gathered health data for research, waited for night treatment of emergency patients, carried out health promotion programs, and visited seriously ill patients at home after work hours. Conclusion: Results of the study indicate that in order to improve the role and function of the primary health care posts and to boost morale, the practitioners' opinions should be actively accepted by the community health practitioner association and competent government agencies.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.361-369
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze the present status of community health practitioner activities and efforts to improve the job performance. Method: This study employed descriptive exploratory design. The sample consisted of 1,892 community health practitioners which was 90 % of population of community health practitioners. The data was analyzed by using SPSS Windows 10.0. Result: The most popular activities of community health practitioners were women's health, chronic degenerative disease management, elderly health, and outpatient care of primary health care. The activities that community health practitioners want to strengthen were outpatient care, disease prevention, rehabilitation, health promotion, and counseling. The efforts to improve the job performance were consult to other health care professionals, discussion with patient and families to choose effective treatment options. Community health practitioners knew that they were exposed to malpractice and hould try to make many efforts to improve their performance. Conclusion: The roles and activities of community health practitioners should be changed to the shift of health care environment and systems.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.47-59
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• 2021

Purpose: To assess levels of mental health among community health practitioners during the COVID-19 outbreak in Korea and associations between practitioner mental health and personal and psychosocial factors. Methods: Data were collected from a convenient sample of 275 community health practitioners using an online questionnaire, which included items on mental health (K-WEMWBS), psychosocial factors (COVID-19 sensitivity, COVID-19 self-confidence, social support, perceived stress), and personal characteristics. Collected data were analyzed using the t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression in SPSS 25.0. Results: Mean mental health score was 51.27±8.47. Multiple linear regression revealed that time spent as a community health practitioner, COVID-19 self-confidence, social support, and perceived stress were significantly associated with mental health. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that comprehensive intervention with emphases on improving COVID-19 self-confidence, social support, and reducing stress is required to improve community health practitioner mental health. The results also indicate a need for educational programs aimed at improving the mental health of young community health practitioners.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.286-295
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of cultural competency of visiting nurses and community health practitioners and explore factors that are related with their cultural competency. Methods: The subjects of this study were 113 visiting nurses and 103 community health practitioners working in Gangwon-do. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire on May 24, 2011. The SPSS/WIN 17.0 program was used for data analysis. Results: The average score for cultural competency of visiting nurses was $2.76{\pm}0.60$ and that of community health practitioners $2.91{\pm}0.51$. Most of subjects received no multicultural education (78.0% for nurses, 85.7% for community health nurses). Factors influencing cultural competency were number of service experience for multicultural clients and participation of multicultural education. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop systematic educational programs to enhance the cultural competency of nurses.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.85-96
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was performed to identify job competencies and needs for job education perceived by new community health practitioners. Methods: This study used a qualitative research design. Eight new community health practitioners participated in this study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using content analysis. Results: Five job competencies were identified in this study, including primary care, public health management, interpersonal relationship, teaching and counseling, and leadership. The contents of job education that they needed were management of major symptoms and chronic diseases, understanding and prescription of medications, emergency responses and care, management of endemic diseases, planning and management of public health programs, writing official documentsand computer works, and leadership training. The learning methods they preferred were connecting theory and practice, situation- or case-based learning, skill- or practice-based learning, and increased opportunities of clinical practice. Conclusion: The findings of this study provided the direction of job education for new community health practitioners. Job education for new community health practitioners needs to consider the job competencies and educational needs identified in this study.