J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs.  2022 Mar;33(1):84-95. 10.12799/jkachn.2022.33.1.84.

A Study on the Gongjungwisaeng Kanhohak, the First Korean Textbook for Public Health Nursing

• June KJ
• Yi G

• KMID: 2527995
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2022.33.1.84

Abstract

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.

Keyword

Public health nursing; Textbook; History of nursing; Korea