Aim: Nurses must develop good problem-solving skills (PSS) to work in the complex health care environment. This study explored PHNs’ use of analogy in PSS development. The purposes of the study were to clarify how PSS developed in one area ( i.e., mental health) could be applied to another area ( i.e., maternal health) and whether new PSS could develop in response to PSS gained in another area. Methods: A multiple case study was conducted using interviews. We interviewed 27 consultations from eight Japanese PHNs who consulted in mental health departments before transferring to maternal health departments. The data on how PHNs applied PSS in the selection, mapping, evaluation, and learning stages of the analogy process were extracted from transcribed interviewed data and compared. Results: PHNs provided 59 PSS used in 27 consultations. All PHNs applied past mental health PSS to solve new problems in maternal health. They tended to select past PSS based on structural similarity and to apply PSS via low-level abstraction in serious situations or preventively to avoid causing the current situation to worsen. Notably, PHNs developed maternal health PSS by using past mental health PSS; these new PSS were derived through analogy from various failures and successes. Conclusions: PSS developed in one area can be applied in another area, and new PSS can develop through applying these previous PSS. Identification of structural similarities and preventive analogies must be included in nursing education, especially for nurses working in public health fields.
Current rapid social change and the highly complex health care environment indicate a need for nurses to develop good problem-solving skills (PSS) in complex situations [
PSS are essential skills for nurses along with critical thinking [
PHNs must expend considerable time and effort to learn new PSS upon transferring departments. However, this does not necessarily mean that transferring requires PHNs to start from the beginning; indeed, PHNs can generally apply PSS acquired in previous departments. However, it has not been empirically demonstrated how PHNs apply such past PSS to new areas of practice, and whether PSS in the new areas can be developed using those learned in past areas. Identifying the characteristics of PSS using analogy in PHNs would help inform and improve nursing education strategies including PBL.
We apply the framework for analogy in this study to clarify how PHNs apply PSS from a particular area to new areas. In this study, we select the areas of mental and maternal health because of their inherent relationship: for instance, there is strong evidence that parents with mental health issues are more likely to abuse their children [
We sought to answer two research questions. In a public health setting, how can mental health PSS be applied to maternal health PSS? Can maternal health PSS be developed using mental health PSS?
According to Holyoak & Thagard [
As noted in the above process, analogical thinking must begin with retrieval of an appropriate base from the massive storage of long-term memory [
Base knowledge arises from both particular case(s) and abstract knowledge con- solidated from many cases [
This study employed the multiple case study design mentioned by Yin [
We employed objective sampling in order to obtain PHNs who had specifically used analogy in problem-solving. Specifically, based on prior research related to analogy, we needed PHNs who had experience working in two different departments. Using analogy depends on temporal continuity [
In the Kanto area of Japan, 12 cities had both mental health and maternal health departments in their public health system. We contacted these 12 cities in January 2014 to identify currently working PHNs who met the inclusion criteria. Of these 12 cities, seven had PHNs who met the inclusion criteria. We sent research announcement documents to one or two potential candidates in each city; if the candidates were interested, they were contacted by the first author. One candidate declined participation because she could not talk about her consultations. Thus, eight PHNs working in six cities participated in the study.
A total of 8 participants in the sample had an average age of 42.9 (range 35 - 52) and all were female. Their average years of experiences as PHNs were 18.5 (range 11 - 27) and they transferred to the maternal health department within 1 - 4 years after the mental health department. Before transferring to their current maternal health department, five PHNs had previous experience working in maternal health departments and three PHNs did not.
We asked PHNs to talk about three or four consultations that they themselves had judged to involve application of mental health PSS to maternal health PSS. A consultation in terms of public health interventions is defined as the process of seeking “information and [generating] optional solutions to perceived problems or issues through interactive problem-solving with a community, system, family or individual” [
The interviews were semi-structured, lasted for 90 - 120 minutes, and used an interview guide that followed the analogy process. The interview guide was pre- tested by two PHNs. They found that they could not speak in detail about their consultations because of how complex and long the consultations were, so the guide was modified to facilitate easier conversation. The guide consisted of the following: (1) a summary of situations involving a maternal health consultation (target) and a mental health consultation (base); (2) the similarities between the target and base, how they were connected, and whether participants had had previous similar consultations (selection); (3) how participants applied the base PSS to the target PSS (mapping); (4) whether the analogy was a success or a failure and why (evaluation); and (5) what participants learned from the analogy (learning). We asked PHNs about points (2) to (5) for each PSS used in a consultation. The structure of the analogy process in this study is shown in
The interviews were recorded and transcribed with the permission of the participants. The first author analyzed all of the data. The analysis of the first level of the case unit involved describing the demographic characteristics of the PHNs. Next, we confirmed the number and types of consultations as the analysis of the second level. Finally, regarding the analysis of the third level, PSS were identified and organized as follows: PSS as a target, PSS as a base, surface similarity, structural similarity, and decisive similarity in selection of the base, the presence of particular consultations as a base, mapping, evaluation, and learning. In the selection stage, surface similarity was considered to be a history of psychiatric treatment, which is an objective index of mental illness. Decisive similarity refers to PHNs’ relatively intuitive judgments about the strongest surface or structural similarities between the base and target. Regarding the mapping stage, in analogy research, higher levels of abstraction enable more crucial and better applications of the analogy [
Regarding construct validity, we asked interviewees to confirm case information by viewing their consultation reports. Case studies aim to expand and generalize theories (analytic generalization) rather than enumerate frequencies (statistical generalization) [
The summary and objectives of this study, voluntary basis of participation, confidentiality, and autonomy were explained to PHNs orally and in writing. Written consent was obtained before each interview. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo (January 8, 2014; No. 10358).
The analysis flow and main results are shown in
24 for child abuse prevention and three for childcare and child education. Finally, regarding the third level of the case unit, PHNs used 1 - 4 PSS with analogies per consultation. A total of 59 PSS with analogies were included as main case units for further analysis. We explained how PHNs applied the mental health PSS to maternal health PSS at each stage of the analogy process.
The selection stage refers to how a PHN selects a PSS as a base by retrieving information about it from memory to solve a target current problem. We sought to understand how PHNs selected the base in terms of surface, structural, and decisive similarity, as well as the presence of particular consultations as a base.
Regarding surface similarity, we added a sub-item of psychiatric symptoms as an objective index of mental illness. A history of psychiatric treatment appeared in 13 consultations (28 PSS) and psychiatric symptoms in 15 consultations (38 PSS).
Regarding structural similarity, we created sub-items of “client reactions”, “cli- ent condition or situation” and “methods of support by PHNs”. Client reactions included 14 PSS and consisted of client verbal responses, facial expressions, and attitude to PHNs. Client condition or situation included 35 PSS and consisted of strange smells, clumsy, mother transferring from another area, a period of instability, self-accusation, and difficult childhood. The methods of support by PHNs included 13 PSS and consisted of step-by-step approaches, making changes to the current situation, and finding key people.
The decisive similarity in the base selection was a history of psychiatric treatment, with 2 of 27 PSS (7.4%); psychiatric symptoms, with 10 of 38 PSS (26.3%); client reactions, with 11 of 14 PSS (78.6%); client condition or situation, with 26 of 37 PSS (70.3%); and methods of support by PHNs, with 10 of 14 PSS (71.4%). We noted that structural similarities were likely to be decisive for selecting bases. Exemplars of structural similarity are shown in
Regarding particular consultations as a base, only thirteen PSS had them, while 37 PSS had abstract knowledge acquired from many consultations. Of the particular consultations used as a base, some had not directly involved the PHNs, who had heard the information from others. For example, one PHN stated:
A mother was hospitalized with postnatal depression. I heard that she was highly impulsive. In the previous mental health department, I heard of a child whose arms were impulsively cut by the mother. I also heard that a criminal with mental disorders killed her own child. Although they were not my clients, I judged that the mother would be high risk if she was discharged (No. 40).
The mapping stage refers to how PHNs map the base to the target and generate inferences about that target. Analogies were distinguished by high and low levels of abstraction in similarities between bases and targets in the mapping stage. High-level abstraction was found in seven PSS, five by PHNs who had not worked in a maternal health department previously and two by PHNs who had. High-level
Client reactions | The mother was treated for schizophrenia ten years ago but was not being treated by a psychiatrist at the time I saw her. She said, “I am cured.” The words hung over my head. I had many clients who said that in the mental health department. They did not take medicine, against medical advice, showed worse symptoms, and caused neighborhood trouble. I often took such clients to the psychiatric hospital (No. 14) |
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Client condition or situation | Somebody with mental illness who moved from a rural region and was unfamiliar with the area. The person was isolated and rock-faced, lacked confidence in himself, and did not issue SOS signals by himself. My first impression of the mother was similar to that for this person because she was also rock-faced and lacked confidence in childrearing. If I told her to consult me anytime, she would not consult herself. So, I tried approaching her without waiting for contact from her. This support was similar to mental health PSS (No. 13) |
Methods of support by PHNs | The mother caused problems, like not picking her child from nursery school or slapped the child. The nursery school discussed whether they would give notice of child abuse to the child guidance center. They decided not to give notice. In the mental health department, I regretted not giving a warning against a violent client. This resulted in serious injury to a family member. If I did warn against the client, maybe the family member would not be seriously injured. Therefore, I negotiated with the nursery school to give a notice of child abuse so that the mother could learn what she should not do (No. 10) |
abstraction was used when PHNs could not find solutions. They generated ideas for analogy and tested these ideas. In contrast, low-level abstraction was found in 52 PSS. Exemplars are shown in
We found patterns of mapping specific to PHNs (signature patterns) in addition to standard patterns. The signature mapping patterns found were “preventive mapping,” “adjusted mapping from failure,” and “attitude mapping while supporting.” Preventive mapping was found in 20 PSS (33.8% of 59), and involved inferring about future changes from the client’s background (client situation and condition), thereby preventing health conditions, childrearing behavior, and living conditions from worsening. Adjusted mapping from failure was found in 11 PSS, nine of which overlapped with preventive mapping. This mapping pattern referred to a base PSS being judged as a failure by the PHN; then, through reflecting on this failure, the PHN adjusted the PSS. Adjusted PSS were often aimed at preventing future failures in a given situation or condition. Attitude mapping when supporting was found in three cases. This mapping pattern referred to a base PSS mapping onto a target that was not a concrete skill but rather an attitude. Exemplars are shown on
The evaluation stage refers to how a PHN evaluates whether the application of the base PSS to the target PSS was successful. After evaluation comes, the learning stage, wherein, the PHN learns something more general from the success or failure of the analogy. In the evaluation and learning stages, many PSS were judged as
Mapping with high-level abstraction in similarity | |
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Target | Understanding the true feelings of a mother with an autistic child |
Base | Asking about early development history to understand the current situation of a client with a mental disorder |
Similarity | A client’s history reveals information about current situation and feelings |
Mapping | Interview about mother’s early development history to understand her true feelings of having an autistic child |
Story interviewed | I was worried about understanding the mother’s true feelings. I came up with an idea to do as a trial, which was interviewing her about her early development history. I was taught by senior PHNs that interviewing about this history is important because current situations are linked to past events. We usually do not take an early development history in the maternal health department but I interviewed the mother because I did not understand her current feelings. After that, I felt closer to her and could understand her feelings. She changed her attitude and opened up about her child (No. 56) |
Mapping with low-level abstraction in similarity | |
Target | Help staff involved obtain a greater understanding of a mother with intellectual disability |
Base | Improving staff’s understanding of a client with mental disorders through interaction |
Similarity | Improving staff’s understanding of a client through interaction |
Mapping | Through interaction with the mother with intellectual disability, staff involved will better understand such clients |
Story interviewed | It is important to watch persons with disorders in the community. Especially persons with mental disorders, who tend not to put messages out. In the mental health department, I went to the local government office with persons with mental disorders and helped staff involved to understand them. So I created opportunities for the mother to meet with staff involved and expected those involved to learn something by making a connection with us (No. 34) |
Preventive mapping | |
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Target | Pregnant woman with bipolar disorder |
Base | Introduction of home help service soon after birth for a mother with a mental disorder who could not take care of her baby |
Mapping | Preparing to introduce childcare services during pregnancy to prevent poor childrearing practices |
Story interviewed | I took a call from a relevant agency about a pregnant woman with bipolar disorder. In the mental health department, a client with a mental disorder gave birth. However, the client could not take care of the baby, so I hastily contacted childcare services. Therefore, I predicted that the mother would find it difficult to take care of her baby. In the postnatal period, even a healthy mother will find it difficult with perverse baby and hormone imbalance. […] So I prepared early by contacting childcare services while the mother was still pregnant (No. 19) |
Adjusted mapping from failure | |
Target | A mother with borderline personality disorder |
Base | A failure of being made to act like a messenger by a client with borderline personality disorder |
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Mapping | Tell in advance what can or cannot be done for the mother to prevent being asked to do what PHNs cannot do |
Story interviewed | […] The mother suffered from borderline personality disorder. So, I told her in advance what I can or cannot do. In the mental health department, a client asked me to do all the paperwork submitted to the office while I was home visiting, so I acted like a messenger. It was a failure. So I tried to not be relied on as much (No. 53) |
Attitude mapping when supporting | |
Target | A mother whose husband killed himself the day after the birth |
Base | Attitude towards managing consultations about suicide or suicidal ideation |
Mapping | Being attitude of mind for managing consultation with the mother whose husband killed himself |
Story interviewed | I heard in my maternity hospital about a mother whose husband killed himself the day after the birth and required support to prevent her from committing joint suicide with the baby. In the maternal health department, other PHNs did not know how to support her and felt timid to try because of the difficulty in performing consultation. This was the first time such a mother came to the maternal health department. In the mental health department, I prepared for consultations about suicide or suicidal ideation because it was the final department where difficult consultations were delivered from other departments (No. 23) |
successful by PHNs, thereby confirming their PSS for that situation. However, PHNs judged five PSS as failures or as difficult to accurately judge. This led them to reconsider how they used and/or should use analogy for these five PSS and thereby gain a learning experience. An exemplar of a PSS evaluated as a failure was presented by one PHN:
A mother interrupted her treatment for schizophrenia and said to me that she was “cured.” Based on my experiences with other patients, I believed that the condition of such patients becomes worse without treatment. I tried to make her restart treatment. However, a psychiatrist recommended supporting the mother’s current condition because the psychiatrist thought that the mother suffered from borderline personality disorder, not schizophrenia. I regret that I reacted too strongly to a past diagnosis (No. 24).
We posed two research questions: how do PHNs apply past PSS to new areas of practices (i.e., can mental health PSS be applied to maternal health PSS), and can PSS be developed using the PSS learned in past areas (i.e., can maternal health PSS be developed using mental health PSS)?
All eight PHNs applied mental health PSS to maternal health PSS. We identified some characteristics regarding how to apply the PSS by analogy stage.
In the selection stage, PHNs were likely to select a base according to structural similarity, which included client reactions, client condition or situation, and me- thods of support by PHNs, even if surface similarity was available. This result is supported by previous findings [
In the mapping stage, few PSS demonstrated mapping with high-level abstraction. According to analogy research, mapping with high levels of abstraction in similarity is absolutely necessary and provides analogies with a wider range of applications [
Preventive mapping (or preventive analogy, hereafter) was found to be a signature analogy for PHNs. Preventive analogy is PHNs’ inferring a future change in a patient’s condition from their background situation and conditions, with the goal of preventing a worsening of the current situation. For instance, PHNs’ motivation in a child endangerment situation is in response to the ethical implications of that situation; in other words, PHNs might act to avoid negative consequences such as joint suicide or child neglect. Preventive perspectives are important for PHNs’ goals and activities and are included in key characteristic of practice of public health nursing [
Two findings supported that PSS can be developed using PSS learned in other areas. The first aspect concerned one of the signature analogies for PHNs, “analogy developed from failures and successes”. Many PSS of adjusted mapping from failure overlapped with preventive mapping, likely because PHNs learned from the failure of a mental health PSS and therefore adjusted the maternal health PSS accordingly in current new area, and used this adjusted PSS preventively in future cases. PHNs also reconsidered all maternal health PSS that they judged as unsuccessful. This might lead them to adjust this unsuccessful PSS and try it again in the future. PHNs’ process of using, reflecting on, learning from their skills, and then testing new skills is reminiscent of experiential learning theory [
The second finding pertains to PHNs who had worked in maternal health departments before working in mental health departments. PHNs that had experience in a maternal health department also used analogies based on mental health PSS rather than falling back on their previously used maternal health PSS. In other words, existing maternal health PSS were improved using analogies of mental health PSS. Although PHNs had transferred to a department requiring specific skills, they could develop these skills through analogy.
The findings in this study on PSS using analogy may contribute to the improvement of nursing education strategies including PBL to facilitate PSS and related critical thinking skills. We found that nurses have characteristics in applying PSS that may differ from those of other professionals. If such nurse-specific characteristics reflect what nurses learn from nursing educational programs, these programs may become more effective and practical. For instance, the finding that PHNs were more likely to select a base according to structural similarity such as clients’ reactions rather than surface similarity such as psychiatric symptoms, may be an important point in education. Problem examples in educational programs could include clients’ reactions and situations, as it would help nurses acquire more careful observation skills, which are necessary to identify structural similarity.
Nursing students should be taught the skills for using analogy effectively. One important finding―namely, that PHNs tend to apply PSS with a low level of abstraction as a secure strategy in serious situations such as child abuse―shows the necessity of varying the abstraction of analogy depending on the situation. In other words, nursing students should learn how to use analogy differently and effectively depending on the severity of the problem. Preventive analogies are also essential PSS, especially for nurses working in public health fields. Nursing students could learn signature PSS by incorporating these skills into PBL scenarios. Current PBL scenarios used in nursing education usually include only specific problematic situations, wherein students identify target problems and, using their own initiative, demonstrate appropriate solutions. PBL using analogy would be more helpful to students because it would provide PSS learned in other areas of practice by the PHN to help solve problematic current situations. Furthermore, as shown in
In terms of continuing education, sharing domain-specific PSS among nurses is important for overall skill development. Specifically, nurses can learn from the consultations and information of other nurses and apply these skills to their own consultations using analogy. Next, this study showed that transferring departments does not mean an interruption in skill development of nurses. If nurses who transfer departments understand this, they may become motivated to work harder, even if considerable time and effort are needed. Moreover, if nurses know their PSS can be applicable to their nursing in other departments, they may be more interested in making departmental moves, and anticipate and look for ways to use their knowledge and skill sets in new settings. Therefore, transferring departments for nurses could be viewed as a positive strategy for developing PSS and important to their career development.
Among medical doctors, computer-aided decision support systems have become popular in clinical settings [
This study had some limitations. First, because we used case studies, which aim to expand and generalize theories, we cannot generalize our results statistically. A quantitative study on this topic could overcome this limitation. Second, our results are limited to the domains of mental health and maternal health. Finally, we focused only on PSS in consultation, while PHNs use many different skills in practice. How analogy affects PHNs’ other skills must be studied in the future. Furthermore, more research regarding PSS using analogy is needed in other nursing departments in order to clarify the signature PSS for nurses that may contribute to the development of more effective nursing education programs.
Through a multiple case study on PSS using analogy, we clarified how PHNs applied past PSS to new areas of practice and how PSS could be developed using the PSS learned in these other areas. Specifically, they tended to select past PSS based on structural similarity and apply past PSS using a low level of abstraction of analogy during serious situations. Furthermore, they applied PSS preventively to avoid worsening the current situation. We found that PHNs developed PSS from failures and successes and by using analogy itself.
We would like to thank the research participants. This work was supported by research grant from the Mitsubishi Foundation, 2013 (Program Grant Number 25313).
The authors have no conflicting interest to declare.
M. K. carried out the data collection and participated in study design, analysis, and manuscript preparation. T. S., A. T., S. N., and K. M. participated in study analysis and manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Kageyama, M., Shimazu, T., Taguchi, A., Nagata, S. and Magilvy, K. (2017) Use of Analogy by Public Health Nurses in Problem Solving for Individual Consultations in Japan: A Multiple Case Study. Open Journal of Nursing, 7, 345-360. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2017.73028