Using questionnaires to ask nurses about working in the community: problems of definition

Area of Science:

• Community health research
• Nursing education research

Background:

• Increasing emphasis on community-based services necessitates robust research methodologies.
• Accurate definition of 'community' is vital for research validity, reliability, and inter-study comparisons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss the challenges and approaches to defining 'community' in a specific research context.
• To inform future research on community-based nursing by addressing definitional issues.

Main Methods:

• The paper analyzes the definition of 'community' used in a longitudinal study.
• The study followed individuals who completed a pre-registration diploma course in nursing.

Main Results:

• The study encountered and addressed specific problems in defining the research community.
• The approach taken aimed to ensure data validity and comparability.

Conclusions:

• Effective definition of 'community' is a key methodological consideration in nursing research.
• The experiences from this longitudinal study offer insights for future community-focused health research.