ABSTRACT
Introduction Asahikawa Medical University has been conducting a JICA Knowledge Co-Creation Program (KCCP) “Health Administration for Community Health Officers in Africa” in Japan since 2008. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the KCCP in 2020 was a hybrid of distance learning and following on-site training in Japan, which the latter was canceled thereafter. This paper reports on how this hybrid program was organized and implemented.Methods: Preparation The program was held in January-February 2021, with eight official participants from five countries and nine observers from two countries. The participants were required to engage in self-learning by PowerPoint materials with lecturers’ audio descriptions and zoom-based interactive meetings. The PowerPoint materials were freely accessible at our Google Drive account. There were 10 zoom sessions during the program.Results: Implementation At the beginning, all the lecture materials were converted to mp4 clips and uploaded to a Youtube channel due to the difficulties downloading heavy files with limited internet connection. A total of 24 videos were created with an average length of 58 minutes in each. Zoom-based interactive meetings were held regularly in the morning in the African continent. Almost all of the sessions were productive, but the participants were sometimes interrupted due to a weak network environment or their regular work assignments. Most provided contents were well understood.Discussion Despite some technical and environmental difficulties, the new-style, web-based training course facilitated the participation of observers as well as regular participants, providing more opportunities for interaction and discussion among trainees than a previous old-fashioned, on-site program. Improvement of the training environment particularly for participants is necessary to produce better training outcomes in the future, such as renting a hotel room and securing virtual connections.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>The Community Health Act came into effect in 1997 in Japan. This act altered the work system for public health nurses (PHNs) in public health centers (PHCs) nationwide from region-specific to service-specific work. Such major changes to working environment in the new system seem to be exposing PHNs to various types of stress. The present study examined whether prevalence of burnout is higher among PHNs in charge of mental health services (psychiatric PHNs) than among PHNs in charge of other services (non-psychiatric PHNs), and whether attributes of emergency mental health care systems in communities are associated with increased prevalence of burnout.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A questionnaire including the Pines burnout scale for measuring burnout was mailed to 525 psychiatric PHNs and 525 non-psychiatric PHNs. The 785 respondents included in the final analysis comprised 396 psychiatric PHNs and 389 non-psychiatric PHNs.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Prevalence of burnout was significantly higher for psychiatric PHNs (59.2%) than for non-psychiatric PHNs (51.5%). When prevalence of burnout in each group was analyzed in relation to question responses regarding emergency service and patient referral systems, prevalence of burnout for psychiatric PHNs displayed significant correlations to frequency of cases requiring overtime emergency services, difficulties referring patients, and a feeling of "restriction".</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Prevalence of burnout is high among psychiatric PHNs, and inadequate emergency mental health service systems contribute to burnout among these nurses. Countermeasures for preventing such burnout should be taken as soon as possible.</p>
ABSTRACT
Objectives: The Community Health Act came into effect in 1997 in Japan. This act altered the work system for public health nurses (PHNs) in public health centers (PHCs) nationwide from region-specific to service-specific work. Such major changes to working environment in the new system seem to be exposing PHNs to various types of stress. The present study examined whether prevalence of burnout is higher among PHNs in charge of mental health services (psychiatric PHNs) than among PHNs in charge of other services (non-psychiatric PHNs), and whether attributes of emergency mental health care systems in communities are associated with increased prevalence of burnout. Methods: A questionnaire including the Pines burnout scale for measuring burnout was mailed to 525 psychiatric PHNs and 525 non-psychiatric PHNs. The 785 respondents included in the final analysis comprised 396 psychiatric PHNs and 389 non-psychiatric PHNs. Results: Prevalence of burnout was significantly higher for psychiatric PHNs (59.2%) than for non-psychiatric PHNs (51.5%). When prevalence of burnout in each group was analyzed in relation to question responses regarding emergency service and patient referral systems, prevalence of burnout for psychiatric PHNs displayed significant correlations to frequency of cases requiring overtime emergency services, difficulties referring patients, and a feeling of “restriction”. Conclusions: Prevalence of burnout is high among psychiatric PHNs, and inadequate emergency mental health service systems contribute to burnout among these nurses. Countermeasures for preventing such burnout should be taken as soon as possible.