Background: Norwegian public health nursing education is a postgraduate education in health-promoting and preventive community nursing with a focus on children, young people (0–20 years) and their families. It has its theoretical foundations in public health and nursing. Research from 2021 showed a clear public health focus, while the nursing foundation was less visible.
Objectives: To explore the nursing content and abstraction levels in the reading lists from institutions that educate public health nurses in Norway.
Method: Using an exploratory and descriptive design, a thematic content analysis of the curriculum literature was conducted with a focus on nursing content and abstraction levels.
The results showed that the majority of nursing texts were related to practice. Very few texts were ethical/philosophical texts with a higher level of abstraction.
Conclusion: There is a need for qualitative and quantitative studies that can shed light on the rationale behind the choice of curriculum content
