Graduate School

Master’s Overview

Admission Policy

The Graduate School of Nursing aims to instill basic and applied theories in the field of nursing from a broad perspective, as well as train individuals capable of developing activities useful in supporting health while pursuing the unique expertise of the nursing profession. For this reason, we are seeking those with the will to develop their own specialized knowledge, practical skills, and research abilities in nursing.

Master’s Program – Research Course

1. Those with the will to acquire research skills to link awareness of problems in nursing practice to qualitative improvement of nursing care;
2. Those with a wide range of basic academic skills and knowledge of the desired field of study;
3. Those aware that their nursing skills have been nurtured socially and possessing the will to contribute to society.

Master’s Program – Practitioner Training Course

1. Those with a foundation in the basic science of nursing and an inquiring mind to acquire concern for others, excellent communication skills, and advanced practical skills;
2. Those interested in the current state and systems of local communities and willing to logically consider a variety of issues through scientific evidence, knowledge, and theories;
3. Those desiring to become future leaders in public health nursing, working with residents to realize a community in which people’s dignity is maintained and their aspirations are actualized.

Curriculum Policy

The Graduate School of Nursing aims to train nursing professionals who can develop activities useful for supporting health while pursuing the depth and breadth of nursing science in order to revitalize community-based nursing and create better nursing care.

The General Subjects in the Master’s Course are positioned as common subjects in order to solidify a foundation of education and research as well as to broaden perspective in relation to specialized subjects. Three of these subjects are required as necessary for the pursuit of nursing science: Nursing Theory, Nursing Research Methodology, and Nursing Ethics.

Master’s Program – Research Course

The Research Course includes two fields of study: Fundamental Nursing Studies, to enhance the ability of nurses to theoretically and practically develop their unique expertise in the areas of health, medicine, and welfare in an aging society, and Applied Nursing Studies, to improve nurses’ abilities to lead through an understanding of real-world conditions and structural analysis of problems in nursing practice.

In Specialized Research, students are guided by a faculty advisor in the selection of a field and necessary procedures for research. Students receive regular guidance from their advisor in writing a Master’s thesis. During the process, students may receive guidance from multiple members of faculty.

Master’s Program – Practitioner Training Course

The Practitioner Training Course consists of three subject areas: Specialized Subjects I, Specialized Subjects II, and General Subjects shared with the Research Course.

Specialized Subjects I is a group of subjects covering educational content as indicated in the regulations for training public health nurses (PHN), enriched with graduate-level content, including Community Diagnosis Theory and Nursing Policy Theory.

Specialized Subjects II include Special Theory of Public Health to strengthen a foundation of public health nursing, Basic Practicum III (Continuing Support Practicum), and Developmental Practicum II (Public Health Nursing Management & Health Crisis Management Practicum), to evaluate students’ own involvement in and changes to the community in order to strengthen practical skills. In Practical Research, students are required to extract research questions from local issues, conduct research, and complete a thesis.

In addition to subjects necessary for nursing research and thesis writing, General Subjects include Advanced Epidemiology & Health Statistics, Administration & Organization, and Social Research Methods, which are social science subjects capturing the structure of the regional society as a whole.

Diploma Policy

In the Master’s and Doctoral courses, students who have earned the required credits based on course regulations, received the necessary research guidance, and passed the examinations of their Master’s thesis in the Master’s Course and Doctoral thesis in the Doctoral Course within the allotted period specified by the Graduate School will be granted completion of the program. In addition, the abilities below must be acquired for degree conferral. The Graduate School aims to develop nursing practitioners, educators, and researchers who will continue the development of nursing science, contribute to health and medical welfare, and possess the abilities of evidence-based practice and an inquisitive mind for research.

Master’s Program – Research Course

1. Fundamental research skills to contribute to the development of nursing science;
2. Logical ability to analyze phenomena related to nursing practice and education from multiple perspectives;
3. Advanced practical nursing skills to cooperate and collaborate with other professionals based on nursing expertise;
4. Ability to carry out nursing practice and research with high ethical standards;
5. Ability to demonstrate excellent leadership and guidance in practice.

Master’s Program – Practitioner Training Course

1. Communication and collaboration skills to build trusting relationships with residents and stakeholders;
2. Ability to quantitatively and qualitatively diagnose the community with regard to social conditions;
3. Ability to understand individuals and families living in the community from multiple perspectives and utilize social resources to support the continuation of healthy lifestyles;
4. Management ability to continuously develop health activities based on the PDCA cycle with a sense of ethics and mission as a public health nursing professional;
5. Ability to establish a community care system that contributes to the realization of a community aimed at improving health and quality of life, as well as the ability to develop related projects and policies;
6. Fundamental research skills to pursue expertise specific to public health nursing.

Master’s Thesis Evaluation Criteria

Research Course

1. There is a nursing science approach to the problem.
2. The problem has been thoroughly examined from the approach to the research objectives.
3. There is a literature review based on sufficient critique of the research question.
4. The data are appropriate and reliable for the research purpose.
5. The data analysis and interpretation are reliable and valid.
6. The research objectives, methods, results, and discussion are described in a logical manner.
7. The research has been conducted ethically.
8. The results are meaningful to nursing science.

Practitioner Training Course

1. The problem statement is related to public health nursing based on personal nursing practice, interests, and questions.
2. The problem has been thoroughly examined from the approach to the problem to the research objectives.
3. There is a literature review conducted in accordance with the research question.
4. The thesis is logically based on evidence.
5. The research has been conducted ethically.
6. The results are meaningful to public health nursing.

Doctoral Overview

Admission Policy

The Graduate School aims to teach, from a broad perspective, both basic and applied nursing theory and to develop human individuals capable of developing activities useful in supporting people’s health while in pursuit of the unique expertise of the nursing profession. For this reason, the Doctoral Program seeks individuals who have the will to develop their own specialized knowledge, practical skills, and research abilities in nursing.

1. Those with the will to examine their own questions in nursing practice and to position and pursue those questions as social issues;
2. Those with the ability to determine the structure of a research problem, gather materials, and analyze them;
3. Those with the will to contribute both to the development of nursing science and the community.

Curriculum Policy

The Graduate School of Nursing aims to cultivate nursing professionals who can develop useful activities to support people’s health while pursuing the full range of nursing science in order to revitalize community-based nursing and create better nursing care.

Based on the nursing perspectives and research methodologies acquired in the Master’s Program, elective courses are offered in each field (Fundamentals and Applied Nursing) so that students can focus on their nursing work in light of the current stage of nursing science development. In addition, to ensure an academic level of nursing research, general courses are offered to broaden students’ scope of nursing science.

In Special Research, students participate in their supervisor’s research group to gain research experience and will be able to receive guidance from multiple members of faculty while examining their own research plan to determine if it will contribute to the expansion of nursing science.

Diploma Policy

In the Master’s and Doctoral courses, students who have earned the required credits based on course regulations, received the necessary research guidance, and passed the examinations of their Master’s thesis in the Master’s Course and Doctoral thesis in the Doctoral Course within the allotted period specified by the Graduate School will be granted completion of the program. In addition, the abilities below must be acquired for degree conferral. The Graduate School aims to develop nursing practitioners, educators, and researchers who will continue the development of nursing science, contribute to health and medical welfare, and possess the abilities of evidence-based practice and an inquisitive mind for research.

1. Ability to identify new issues in their respective areas of expertise in order to solve health problems;
2. Ability to appropriately explore previous research and develop a research plan leading to practical application;
3. Ability to conduct research empirically and autonomously;
4. Ability to contribute to the development of nursing science from interdisciplinary and international perspectives.

Coursework

The Doctoral Program offers two educational programs: the Nursing Fundamentals Program and the Applied Nursing Program.

Nursing Fundamentals Program

In this program, based on the premise of investigating the internal structure of the fundamentals of nursing, we aim to create and demonstrate new knowledge and skills to meet today’s social needs by conducting education and research related to basic fundamentals of nursing science in order to address problems that cannot be solved with existing knowledge and skills alone. In nursing theories which guide practice, we aim to move from highly abstract to representational theories useful for understanding the structure of real-life problems and further their stepwise systematization. In addition, we teach methods of analysis in the pursuit of scientifically-based superior techniques acquired empirically in practice, and develop them for general purpose. We also work to develop nursing education methods to raise the level of nursing technique acquisition in fundamental nursing education.

Moreover, in addition to the aim of developing practical, evidence-based nursing skills to maintain and improve health, we seek to provide education and research toward improving professional skills in infection control from a nursing standpoint.

Applied Nursing Program

In this program, education and research guidance are provided with the aim of developing support methods to develop individualized nursing practice according to the characteristics of the subject in response to the diverse nursing needs having arisen in response to rapid changes in social conditions. In this context, from the standpoint of supporting the continuity of life, we work on the development of support methods for solving health issues and problems that affect the birth and healthy growth of life.

Additionally, we aim to develop support programs for both individuals’ and families’ problems brought about by health disorders, and to develop support methods from the perspective of how to demonstrate nursing expertise in adjusting the lives of those receiving medical care. More, we develop methods to analyze and present the health and life issues of the community by understanding the characteristics and structure of the community as a whole, as well as methods to make the community safe and more amendable to live in, such as building home and community care systems through collaboration with the community.