Home Health Care

Abstract

The purposes of this national study were (a) to determine priority research questions in home health care nursing and (b) to develop a home health research network group. Collaborative brainstorming was used initially by an interdisciplinary research team to generate a list of research questions. The major content areas covered in the questionnaire were questions relating to home health care as a delivery system, patient classification, quality assurance, nursing diagnosis, and nursing professionalism. A survey of 450 practicing home health care nurses was completed. The questions were rated by the respondents on a scale of high, medium, or low research priority. The response rate was 52%, with home health nurses responding from 30 states. The results clearly indicated the top 10 research priorities for home health care nursing research. The formation of the home health care research network groups are also discussed.