Community/Public Health Nursing I

At the end of this course, the student should be able to; 1. discuss the trend of the emergence of the practice of community/public health; 2. discuss the context of the family as the unit of care in community/public health nursing; 3. discuss the relevant concepts, tools and theories used in family health assessment and care; 4. explain the concept and process of community actions in practice; 5. describe the levels of prevention and application development of programmes and services in community/public health nursing practice; and 6. demonstrate effective use of nursing process in programme and service delivery at the community level.

Historical antecedents of community/public health nursing practice. Role of community/public health nurses in the diverse community settings. The context of family as the unit of care in the community. Concept of the family. Types and characteristics of families. Family developmental tasks. Family nursing theories. Tools in family health assessment and family care. Demography and population dynamics. Community assessment. Community mobilization, participation and involvement. Levels of prevention. Nursing process as applied to community practice. Skills used in community practice. Levels of health prevention. Socio-demographic variables and population dynamics as predictors of patterns of life in the community. Patterns of diseases in the community. Application of development programmes and services at community levels.