Comparison of characteristic competencies of public health nurses working at a community general support center and health and welfare in public administration in Japan.

Objectives: To compare the characteristic competencies of public health nurses working for the older adult's health and welfare in public administration ("PA") with those at community general support centers ("CGSC") in Japan. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey by mail for PA and CGSC public health nurses. A competency list that was developed to compare three groups (PA, CGSC experts with ≥5 years of experience, and CGSC newcomers with ≤2 years of experience) was used. The following characteristics were examined: (1) competencies acquired early after arriving at the CGSC, (2) competencies acquired through a certain amount of CGSC experience, (3) common competencies, (4) competencies that even experts lacked, and (5) competencies that the newcomers lacked. Results: We examined the responses of 171 PA nurses, 185 CGSC expert public health nurses, and 165 CGSC newcomer public health nurses. The results of comparison of the three groups showed that (1) had no applicable items; (2) had nine items for individual support associated with preventive care management; (3) had 14 items including teamwork among three professionals (social workers, senior care manager, public health nurse)/other professionals and self-improvement; (4) had three items for community development, (5) had two items for individual support and 16 items for community development. Conclusion: Initiatives for preventive care and coordination of care teams should be supported and suggested as characteristic competencies for CGSC public health nurses.

Associations of occupation, employment type and company size with actions related to health examinations among Japanese employees.

Taking action in response to health examination results is important to stay healthy. We aimed to investigate the associations between occupation, employment type and company size, and having a health examination and taking action in response to the results among Japanese employees. We focused on three particular actions by employees in response to health examination results: paying attention to one's health, receiving health guidance, and visiting a medical institution. We used anonymous data from the 2010 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions of Japan, a self-administered nationwide questionnaire survey. The data of 23,963 employees (12,938 male and 11,025 female) aged 20-64 yr were analyzed using logistic regression models adjusted by covariates. There were significant changes in odds ratios for receiving a health examination by occupation, employment type and company size. We found significant odds ratios for receiving health guidance by occupation and company size, but there was almost no significant association with paying attention to one's health and visiting a medical institution. These results confirmed that receiving a health examination was associated with occupational factors, and suggested that receiving health guidance after health examination results was associated with occupation and company size.