To successfully advocate and influence the political community, community health nurses must be politically competent. To do this, they need to be aware of the fundamental political concepts and how politics relates to nurses, patients, and healthcare. They also need to be familiar with theories of political processes, one of which is Kingdon’s framework theory created in 2010 and 2011. This theory, also called the Multiple Streams Framework, consists of three main components, the interaction of which determines the possibility of a successful public appeal to political circles.
If at one moment in time, a combination of all three components, also called streams, exist, there is a short-term opening of the so-called “window of opportunity,” with which desired policy can be adopted. These streams are problems, policies, and politics, each of which is analyzed separately by Kingdon. Problems are explained literally, being some urgent issue caused by certain circumstances or events. As Gregg, Miller, and Tennantsay, “policy stream is related to all the alternative and possible solutions to solve the problem”.
Solutions to an existing problem often float around, but they should be brought to attention. Finally, the political stream refers to the attitude and atmosphere in both political and public circles. When considering political sentiment, it is useful to perceive possible stakeholders on both sides of the issue under consideration and take into account their potential influence. Thus, taking into account all three components, observing them, and contributing to their publicity, community health nurses can seize the moment for influence on political circles and the promotion of health interests.