The child welfare system: through the eyes of public health nurses

This qualitative descriptive study investigates how public health nurses working within the child welfare system view the organization and the organization's effect on their case management practice.

Semistructured interviews were conducted utilizing the Bolman-Deal Organizational Model. This model identifies four frames of an organization: symbolic, human resources, political, and structural.

A purposive sample of nine nurses and one social worker was selected to participate in comprehensive interviews.

Data analysis identified two main themes. The first theme was the presence of organizational structural barriers to providing case management. The second theme was the lack of political influence by the nurses to change the structure of the organization; hence, their skills could be more completely utilized.

Public health nurses who work in child welfare will need to systematically analyze their role within the organization and understand how to work in "host settings." Nursing educators need to prepare public health nurses to work in non-health care settings by teaching organizational analysis.