Using a computer simulation program to assess the decision-making process in child health care

The purpose of this paper was to describe the development and testing of a computer simulation program designed to assess the decision-making process in the public health nurses' work in child health care. The work was based primarily on theories of problem-solving and decision making; on knowledge of child development, health care, and education; and on the soft systems methodology. An authoring program and two simulations were designed and produced at the University of Turku by a team of two nurse researchers, a computer specialist, and three public health nurses. The simulations presented two typical situations encountered by the public health nurses' work in child health care. A total of 61 public health nurses from 11 health centers in the southwestern part of Finland completed the simulations. The public health nurses responded positively to the simulations and the program worked very well. The results revealed some inconsistencies in the decision-making process of the public health nurses with respect to the needs of the child and the family. The public health nurses' decisions were more closely related to the developmental stage of the child than to the unique needs of each family. The simulation is acting to test the public health nurses' ability to make decisions "here and now" but not about caring it forward. These shortcomings can be corrected by asking them to explain their decisions and thoughts after each stage and by tape recording their answers. The findings gave many answers to the question of how the computer simulation program can be developed.