Methodological issues in the evaluation of the quality of public health nursing: a case study of the maternal and child health centres in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, the demand to evaluate the quality of patient and client care led to the development of a collaborative study with the Department of Health to evaluate the quality of public health nursing in maternal and child health centers. A multiple case study design was developed to conduct the research using both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The study identified implications for clinical practice and methodological issues for the evaluation of care. These findings indicate the following issues for consideration: the cultural context of care, the use of health data, and the method of data collection. Both the use of professional language and the need for translation have implications for data collection methods. The development of methodologies for the evaluation of care must address culturally specific issues, especially where English is not the first language of subjects in the study.