The nurse in child healthcare as a craftsman to use professional competence and build a health promotive relationship- an observation study.

Purpose: To explore how child healthcare (CHC) nurses use their professional competence to promote health in families with children.

Method: An explorative qualitative study was conducted based on data from participant observations and informal conversations. The sample comprised 12 CHC nurses who were observed for 31.5 hours during 23 health visits, 17 phone calls, and 9 team visits, totalling 49 observations. The results were analysed using a qualitative content analysis.

Results: The analysis resulted in one theme: Health promotion as a professional competence is a craft of interaction for caring and mutual learning. The theme describes how CHC nurses use professional competence as a health promotion approach to create trust, where the decision-making and guidance of parents are skills that depend on interaction, which is an ongoing process. The shared learning outcome of the encounter was dependent on a healthy learning process.

Conclusion: A health promotion approach was a part of CHC nurses' professional competence, which involves interaction for caring and sharing mutual learning. The ongoing process of healthy learning occurs through interactions between nurses, children, and families. This process can be considered as a pedagogical work-integrated learning tool.