The purpose of the study was to compare perceived master's level educational needs of baccalaureate educated community health nurses working in developed areas of the world to perceived master's level educational needs of baccalaureate educated community health nurses working in developing areas of the world. Forty subject areas recommended for master's education in community health nursing were identified. A questionnaire to determine the perceived importance of each subject area was administered to a sample population of nurses working in community settings in the United States and in twenty-eight developing countries. Forty null hypotheses were developed. Each hypothesis stated that there was no difference in perceived importance of including-the selected subject areas in master's education identified by community health nurses working in the United States and by community health nurses working in developing countries. Hypotheses were tested using the Chi-square, with the null hypotheses being rejected at the .05 level of significance.FindingsRespondents included 389 baccalaureate educated nurses from the United States and 39 baccalaureate educated nurses from developing countries. The analysis of data identified significant differences in responses of nurses working in the United States and nurses working in developing countries regarding the importance of including the following subject areas in master's education in community health nursing: applied sanitation, tropical diseases, school health practice, obstetric-gynecological practitioner skills, nurse-midwifery, outpatient medical-surgical skills, family coun seling, gerontology, grant writing, management theory, computer skills, medical anthropology, urban sociology, cross-cultural nursing, nursing theory, current issues and trends, research methods, political science, health policy and public speaking, in master's education in community health nursing.Subject areas were also analyzed for perceived importance to the entire population. Subject areas identified as very important to more than fifty percent of the population were community needs assessment, program planning, health education methods, physical assessment of adults, physical assessment of-.children, family counseling, nutrition therapy, gerontology, and current issues and trends.

M.Cur. / The purpose of this study is to describe guidelines for a Community Based Curriculum in Psychiatric Nursing Science for a nursing college in KwaZulu Natal. The study consists of 4 phases. To reach the purpose of the study, a situational analysis was done in 3 phases to identify the principles for a Community Based Curriculum in Psychiatric Nursing Science. In Phase I - a document analysis of relevant government policies and legislation was conducted to obtain the principles of mental health care. In Phase H - the statistics of the psychiatric diagnoses of patients from two community psychiatric clinics and one psychiatric hospital admission unit were collected. From the prevalence of the mental disorders, the mental health needs and problems were identified. These were the principles of Phase II. Phase III - was the focus group interviews with the psychiatric nurse educators of a nursing college in KwaZulu Natal to ascertain their viewpoints on a Community Based Curriculum in Psychiatric Nursing Science. From the findings of the focus group interviews, a literature control and conceptual framework were done. Thereafter, the principles of mental health care from this phase were identified. The principles of Phase I, II and III were used to formulate Phase IV, which was the guidelines for the operationalisation of Community Based Curriculum in Psychiatric Nursing Science. The outcomes based approach was used in the Community Based Curriculum in Psychiatric Nursing Science in accordance with the National Qualifications Framework of the South African Qualifications Authority. Recommendations concerning nursing practice, nursing education and further study were made at the end of the study including the limitations affecting the study

M.Cur. / With the announcement of the devolution of primary health care services to the local authority by the Cabinet in 1991, the role fulfilment of the community health nurse becomes more complex and greater demands are continuously made on her. The question, to what extent will the Implementation of primary health care (with the critical elements as framework) make greater demands on her role and function, led to this study. An exploratory, descriptive study, within a contextual framework was carried out. The purpose of the research was to analyse the task of the nursing staff working at local government, to determine which critical elements In primary health care are seen as part of the tasks of the community health nurse and to give guidelines with regard to primary health care and community health nursing. Content analyses done of job descriptions Indicated that some of the critical elements of primary health care are not expected to be performed by the nursing staff. According to the information gained through the questionnaires, nurses do more than is expected of them as Indicated In their job descriptions. " According to the conclusions resulting from this study, most of the critical elements of primary health care is being performed by nurses as part of their duty. The most Important recommendations Include the training of those nurses who feel that they need refresher courses with regard to the examination of patients and the making of diagnoses. Nurses need to know about the changes and what Is expected of them In future as a result of these changes.

M.Cur. / This research study is on the acceptability of clinical community nursing skills in mobile health services. It is aimed at highlighting whether the skills of community nurses working in mobile health services at a certain area in KwaZulu-Natal are accepted by the community they serve. This was of concern to the researcher because it was discovered that a significant number of people in the community in this area flock to the hospitals, private doctors and traditional healers when there are mobile services which travel to various communities, in order to attend to the health needs of their residents. Interviews were conducted with the patients attending the mobile health services to obtain their views, especially on the community nursing skills. Observations were also conducted after the interviews by the researcher on the skills of the community nurses in the mobile health services. The observations were conducted to verify the results of the interviews. Findings from both data collection methods revealed that some community nursing skills are acceptable and others are unacceptable. Guidelines were formulated to render the mobile health services more user friendly.

M.Cur. / The purpose of the research study was to describe guidelines to improve the community health clinics as a learning context conducive to learning. The objectives of the study commenced by getting the perception of student nurses, community sisters and college tutors, to explore and describe the problems experienced in relation to community health clinics as a learning context for student nurses, especially when they are allocated for their clinical practicals to prepare them to become competent. The research design and method used, consisted of a qualitative approach to achieve the intended goal of the research study. The design was divided into two phases: Phase one consisted of a field/empirical study and phase two consisted of conceptualization. Phase one has three steps where each step indicates the research method, population and sampling, data collection and data analysis. Population and sampling for step I included all the fourth year students from a nursing college in Gauteng, who are in an educational programme leading to registration as a nurse (general, psychiatric and community) and midwife. Population and sampling for step II consisted of community sisters from ten community health clinics in the Southern Metropolitan Local Council. Population and sampling for step III consisted of community college tutors from a college in Gauteng; the sample size consisted of the whole population. In all the steps follow-up interviews were conducted to confirm the findings. To ensure trustworthiness Lincoln and Guba's (1985) model was implemented, and data analysis were according to Tesch's (1990 in Creswell, 1994:155) method, based on a qualitative approach. The major problems reflected in the research findings based on Step I, II, II indicate similarities and Step III only indicates some uniqueness. The conceptual framework was discussed, indicating a body of knowledge, based on the study and empirical findings from phase I, to give clear meaning and understanding regarding the research study. Problems from all the steps were used in an integrated manner as research findings and were compared with existing literature within the framework, to determine similarities and differences as literature control method. Guidelines were then formulated from phases I and II, to solve the indicated problems, based on the three different sample groups. Guidelines were supported by the conclusion statement from chapter four and the problem statement from chapter three. Essential actions were indicated for operationalisation. Ethical consideration was maintained throughout the research study. The study has been evaluated by means of positive and negative issues related to the actual research process. Recommendations related to nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research were indicated accordingly.