From Theory to Practice: Community Health Nursing in a Public Health Neighborhood Team

Abstract

An interdisciplinary team in a local public health district tested its ability to implement the core public health functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance by changing its practice to a community-driven model of building partnerships for health with groups and communities in a designated locale. Evaluation of this innovation revealed that the public health nurse members of the team enacted their community health nursing knowledge to strengthen agency to cocreate health. Interdisciplinary collaboration was essential to the team's community mobilization efforts. Additional findings suggested that this organizational innovation was associated with developing a more participatory organizational climate, increasing system effectiveness, and building community capacity.