Norwegian public health nurses' competence areas

Abstract

Objective: To explore the competence areas of public health nurses in Norway.

Design: A qualitative and comparative design was employed.

Sample: A purposive sample of 41 public health nurses participated.

Measurements: Data were gathered from focus groups and individual interviews. The interviews centered around an open question about public health nurses' knowledge. They also discussed 10 proposed competence areas for public health nursing, developed from the literature. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts, followed by a synthesis of the data from the interviews and earlier developed competencies. The 10 competence areas for Norwegian public health nursing were then refined. Finally, we compared the affirmed competence areas with earlier developed cornerstones and the new educational guidelines.

Results: The interviews revealed 10 competence areas. These 10 competence areas were synthesized with the 10 proposed competencies from literature. Ten affirmed competence areas, which mostly corresponded with the competences from literature, were developed. The affirmed competencies were supported by the previously developed cornerstones and new educational guidelines.

Conclusions: The affirmed competencies will help promote and explain the content and focus of PHNs' work in Norway and may have implications for education and international research.

Keywords: competence; disease prevention; health promotion; interviews; public health nurse.