Public health nursing competency instrument: scale reduction and reliability of factors.

Objectives: To reduce the number of items of the Public Health Nursing Competency Instrument (PHNCI) and to report the psychometric properties of the abbreviated instrument.

Design And Sample: The 193-item PHNCI was administered via an online survey tool. A national sample of 2,269 public health nurses was recruited from 25 states.

Development of the public health nursing competency instrument.

This paper describes the development and initial testing of an instrument to measure population-based public health nursing competencies. Although multiple lists of public health competencies exist, literature review did not elicit a valid instrument that could measure changes in public health nursing competency over time. The public health nursing competency instrument, consisting of 195 measurable activities organized in the framework of the nursing process, was developed.

Dropping out of maternal and child home visits.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nurse and client characteristics and the reason for client termination from public health nursing maternal and child home visits. The results indicate that clients who dropped out of services received more contacts from the nurses, missed more appointments with the nurses, and were given advice from the nurses on more topics. They also differed from clients who continued with services until the nursing care plan goals were met in reference to marital status, mental illness, source of payment for services, and use of WIC and food stamps.