AN HISTORY OF COMMUNITY NURSING CENTERS' INFLUENCE ON HEALTH POLICY SINCE THE 1970S.
Contributors: University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Published: 1996
Number of pages: 294
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.; Political Science, General.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine whether community nursing centers (CNCs), through their nursing leadership and organizational activities, have influenced local, state or national health policy since the 1970s. Four major concepts were examined: (1) health policy, (2) leadership, (3) community nursing centers, and (4) influence. The two major research questions were: (1) What influence have CNCs, through their nursing leadership and organizational activities, had in influencing health policy at the local, state or national level(s) since the 1970s?, (2) What were the characteristics of the five CNCs identified as most influential by CNC nurse leaders and chosen for the study?.

The historical method was the primary design used to conduct this study in combination with the qualitative research interview technique and content analysis in the synthesis of the data. This study was conducted in two phases. Phase I involved using the snowball sampling technique. A pool of CNC nurse leaders was contacted and each was asked to identify the most influential CNCs. The five most appropriate were selected for interviews and site visits. The following process occurred in phase II of the study: (1) Letters were written to the nurse leaders of the five CNCs to seek consent to participate in the study by completing a comprehensive survey, (2) Each CNC nurse leader was contacted to discuss the survey results and to schedule a convenient time to visit the CNC, and (3) The five CNCs were visited to interview the CNC nurse leader and review organizational records.

Kolb's (1978) political power model was used as the framework to analyze the data for the research questions. Findings supported the use of Kolb's political power model by the five CNCs and the use of additional activities of influence (AOIs) in influencing health policy at all levels. Additionally, there were supplementary influencing activities identified as core influencing abilities (CIAs) utilized by CNC nursing leadership. As a result, a model (CNC Power of Influence) was developed to depict this phenomena.

It was important to conduct this study to shed some light on what actions or activities by CNC nursing leadership and organizations have influenced health policy. Identification of CNC nursing leadership and organizational actions or activities that have influenced health policy could have a bearing on current and future issues of health care reform policy or other nursing-related health policy issues.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-12, Section: B, page: 7458.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE, 1996.

School code: 0263.