Public health nursing directors' perceptions regarding interagency collaboration with community mental health agencies.

Abstract

Involvement in collaborative interagency relationships is crucial to the future of public health nursing and public health agencies. The purpose of this study was to describe public health nursing directors' perceptions regarding relationships between public health agencies and mental health agencies in their communities. A secondary analysis was conducted of textual responses to open-ended questions and unsolicited comments from 71 (55%) the of respondents to a larger survey of nursing directors of all public health agencies in Ohio. Data were analyzed inductively using content analysis for emergent themes and patterns, which were organized and classified deductively according to a community interagency collaboration framework. Public health nursing directors described environmental, situational, task, and interagency factors that impact collaboration between their agencies and local community mental health agencies. These descriptions provide a context for understanding impediments to collaboration between these two types of agencies, and have implications for designing interventions to enhance public health nursing directors' skills at marketing both their profession and their agencies. Collaborative relationships between public health and mental health agencies could improve care for community-dwelling persons with severe mental disabilities and enhance the future of public health nursing in a changing, competitive health care system.