ENHANCING CLIENT COMPETENCE - MELDING PROFESSIONAL AND CLIENT KNOWLEDGE IN PUBLIC-HEALTH NURSING PRACTICE

Providing health information is an important aspect of public health n ursing. This article describes how public health nurses (PHNs) give in formation to enhance client competence. The findings are part of a lar ger study that explored PHNs' perspectives and experiences of their pr actice. The study employed an exploratory descriptive qualitative rese arch design. Data were gathered through in-depth individual and focus group interviews with 28 PHNs in Alberta, Canada. Content analysis rev ealed that nurses work to enhance client competence by sharing profess ional knowledge and by building on the client's experiential knowledge . Nurses provide information to assist clients with immediate concerns and for future use. PHNs use three main strategies to deal with immed iate concerns: being direct, providing options, and presenting a diffe rent view. Information for future use focused on enhancing development and forestalling future problems. Nurses build on clients' experienti al knowledge by acknowledging their present situation, giving positive feedback, being there, and gently persuading. The authors suggest tha t the melding of professional and client knowledge is foundational to health promotion approaches that enhance client competence. There is a need for further research that explores the intricacies of developing partnerships between professionals and clients that embrace a sharing of professional and experiential knowledge.