AN EVALUATION OF BACCALAUREATE PUBLIC/COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING CURRICULA IN RELATION TO ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS, COMPETENCIES, AND PROFESSIONAL DEFINITION

This study determined what public health nursing content and clinical experiences faculty include in the baccalaureate preparation of nurses. The specific questions addressed were (1) What is baccalaureate preparation for public health nursing? (2) Is there nationwide consistency in the nursing content and clinical skill development emphasized in the public health nursing components of baccalaureate nursing curricula? (3) Are the theoretical and experiential components in baccalaureate public health nursing curricula consistent with professional definitions of public health nursing? And, (4) what are the basic core concepts and skills that educators believe are essential to public health nursing practice? The concept of professionalization was used as a framework for analyzing for evidence of standardization in public health nursing education. A questionnaire was mailed to all National League for Nursing accredited baccalaureate nursing programs (N = 339) with the request that it be completed by the person responsible for the baccalaureate public health nursing program. The questionnaire was constructed to collect information related to theory and practice objectives in the curriculum. A response rate of 82% (n = 275) was obtained after the follow-up mailings and telephone calls. Data analysis was directed towards the achievement of a content analysis of public health nursing curricula. The content areas and clinical competencies taught were rank-ordered to determine those areas most commonly taught and least taught. Analysis of variance, multivariate analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation coefficients examined the effects of the demographic characteristics of the respondents on the emphasis placed on curricular components. The findings suggest that there is a greater degree of nationwide consistency placed on competency areas than there is on public health nursing content in the curriculum; there is limited congruence between the theoretical and experiential components taught in the curriculum and the components specified by the professional definitions; and there is a relationship between the degree of emphasis placed on public health nursing concepts with what faculty perceive as important for the profession. These results have implications for curriculum development and evaluation in nursing education.