Research in Community and Public Health Nursing

Original Articles

[Korean] Korea’s First Manual of Public Health Nursing: A Foundation for Public Health Nursing Practice in Korea: Junho Jung, Kyunghee Yi; Res Community Public Health Nurs. 2025;36(3):245-256. Published online September 30, 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/rcphn.2025.01102

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Abstract PDF: Purpose
This study aims to understand the functions and roles of public health nursing, which played a key role in public health center activities during the formative years of the organizations in Korea. It does so by analyzing the structure and content of Manual of Public Health Nursing, the first of its kind published in Korea, as well as its authors’ records—particularly the U.S. nurse advisors. Methods: Manual of public health nursing was investigated from the cover to the appendix with other related records from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Results: The manual was published in response to the expansion of health centers and the increasing need for standardized practice for public health nurses. It includes theoretical and practical guidelines on maternal and child health, communicable disease control, school health, health education, etc. as well as the qualifications of public health nurses. The manual was influenced by U.S. nursing education and international public health manuals. Conclusion: The manual played a critical role in shaping early public health nursing practices in Korea by providing essential knowledge and standardizing public health services. It reflected Korea’s evolving public health system, heavily influenced by U.S. aid and technical assistance. Despite its significance, challenges such as a shortage of trained public health nurses and an underdeveloped administrative structure remained unresolved.

[English] A Study on the Gongjungwisaeng Kanhohak, the First Korean Textbook for Public Health Nursing: Kyung Ja June, Ggod Me Yi; J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs. 2022;33(1):84-95. Published online March 31, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2022.33.1.84

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Purpose
The purpose of this study is to extend the knowledge about the textbook, Public Health Nursing Textbook (in Korean, Gongjungwisaeng Kanhohak) which is published in 1933 by the Nurses' Association of Korea.
Methods
Public Health Nursing Textbook was investigated from the cover page to the last page and compared with two original books and other nursing books published in modern Korea.
Results
Public Health Nursing Textbook was the forth published Korean nursing textbook and the first published Korean public health nursing textbook. Rosenberger, a missionary nurse from USA, Lee Keumjeon, Korean public health nurse who studied in Canada, and other Koreans were in charge of translation, etc. It is a user‐friendly book written mainly in Korean (Hangul) with Chinese characters and included the English table of contents, preface and back cover. Most of its contents were extracted and translated from two original books, one is Public Health Nursing by Mary Gardner and the other is Personal Hygiene Applied by Jesse Williams. It is worth noting that the book not only introduced the public health nurses’s activities across the country, but also focused on the information necessary for common health problems at that time.
Conclusion
From the Public Hygiene and Nursing, it can be seen that public health nurses had been independently educated since Imperial Japan’s colonial period, and public health nursing was growing as a independent field in Korea.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Standardizing nursing practice and advancing nursing education by missionaries during the Japanese colonial period: The publication of A Text-Book for Korean Nurses from Practical Nursing
Ggodme Yi, SuJeong Yu, Kyung Ja Kang
The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education.2025; 31(3): 346. CrossRef
Korea’s First Manual of Public Health Nursing: A Foundation for Public Health Nursing Practice in Korea
Junho Jung, Kyunghee Yi
Research in Community and Public Health Nursing.2025; 36: 245. CrossRef
A study on the Textbook on Nursing published in Korea in 1918
Ggodme Yi, SuJeong Yu, Chan Sook Park
The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education.2023; 29(4): 415. CrossRef

[English] Historical Review of Lee Keumjeon, a Pioneer in Community Health Nursing in Korea: Ggod Me Yi; J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs. 2013;24(1):74-86. Published online March 31, 2013; DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2013.24.1.74

3,725 View
48 Download
6 Citations

Abstract PDF

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to show the development of community health nursing in Korea in light of the life of Lee Keumjeon (1900~1990), who devoted her life to community health nursing.
METHODS
Primary and secondary sources were collected and analyzed.
RESULTS
Lee could get high level education up to college courses, which was very exceptional at that time in Korea. She got nursing and midwifery education in Severance Hospital (1929) and majored in public health nursing at Toronto University (1930). Then, she worked in mother-and-child health practice for more than 10 years. She helped the Korean Nurses' Association to publish Public Health Nursing (1933) and other nursing books. After the liberation of Korea, she became a governmental official in the public health nursing field and tried to establish the national public health nursing system. During the Korean War, she devoted herself to nursing education and practice at nursing schools and hospitals. After the war, she worked as president of the Korean Nurses' Association. In 1959, Lee was given the Nightingale award. Although she retired in 1960, she continued to devote herself to the development of nursing, and published her book Public Health Nursing (1967).
CONCLUSION
Lee worked from 1920s to 1960s for the development of nursing in Korea and during the period Korean nursing showed great development to national system and professional status.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Korea’s First Manual of Public Health Nursing: A Foundation for Public Health Nursing Practice in Korea
Junho Jung, Kyunghee Yi
Research in Community and Public Health Nursing.2025; 36: 245. CrossRef
The Impact of U.S. Army Nurses on the Development of the Nursing Profession in South Korea
Myunghee Jun, Hyekyung Kim, Anne Dressel, Hearyun Cho, HackSun Kim, Christine Vandenhouten
Journal of Humanistic Psychology.2023; 63(6): 764. CrossRef
A Study on the Gongjungwisaeng Kanhohak, the First Korean Textbook for Public Health Nursing
Kyung Ja June, Ggodme Yi
Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing.2022; 33(1): 84. CrossRef
Nursing Missionary Elizabeth J. Shepping's Education and Holistic Care for Koreans
Me Ok Yoon
Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing.2016; 27(1): 60. CrossRef
Historical Review of Park Myungja, very Pioneering and Creative Registered Nurse who winned the Florence Nightingale Medal
Ggodme YI
The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education.2015; 21(3): 361. CrossRef
May 18 Democratic Uprising and Experiences of Nursing Activities in the Gwangju Area
Ya Ki Yang
Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2014; 20(1): 82. CrossRef

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