The purpose of this study was to define and clarify the concept of political competence for nurses.

A hybrid model method was used to investigate the dimensions, attributes, and definitions of the concept. In the theoretical stage of the study, literature on nursing, politics, and other discipline were reviewed. In the fieldwork stage, individual in-depth interviews and focus groups interviews were conducted with politically seasoned experts or activists who had an understanding of the concept of political competence for extensive descriptions in nursing and field of health care.

The concept of political competence was represented in four dimensions as political knowledge, political efficacy, political interaction, and political activity. In the political knowledge dimension, there were three attributes, namely, political knowledge, political information and systematic analysis ability. The political efficacy dimension had three attributes of internal political efficacy, external political efficacy, and self-pride of nursing profession. The political interaction dimension had three attributes of organizations and community service, networking, and persuasive power. The political activity dimension had six attributes of political leadership, political expression, assertive behavior, political advocacy, political participation, and policy intervention.

This concept development might provide a basic understanding of developing a measurement tool and for constructing a theory promoting nurses’ political competence.

Concept analysis is an essential part of theory development in nursing. Thus, many strategies or methods of concept analysis have been suggested in nursing literature. However, in Korea, only limited strategies were utilized, without much consideration on a wide range of strategies in choosing a method that coincides with the characteristics of each concept to analyze. The purpose of this article was to propose various strategies for concept analysis.

A literature review method was used.

Ten methods of concept analysis were identified in the literature, and they were evaluated for advantages and limitations. In addition to the method by Walker and Avant and a hybrid model, more advanced strategies, such as triangulation method, critical analysis and the feminist approach were introduced and described in detail. The examples used in each concept analysis method were presented in table to provide the extent of utilization of each method.

This article provides a wide range of strategies in identifying, clarifying, or elaborating a concept. It might help in choosing a method that best fits the concept to analyze, thus enhancing quality of concept analysis research.