The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived importance of nursing intserventions of psychiatric nurses according to domains, classes and interventions using the 3th NIC.

In this study, a 435 of 486 nursing interventions were selected from 75% consent reached by experts. Data were collected from 9 hospitals and 141 nurses(return rates : 94.0%) in Seoul, Kyonggi, Chungnam, Gwang-ju and Chonnam region from January, 2002 to February, 2002 using 4 point Likert scale.

Total perceived importance score was 2.905+/−0.463 and total correlation score with performance frequency was r=0.295. The most important perceived domain and class was found to be ‘ safety’ (3.217+/−0.465) and ‘ community health promotion’ (3.285+/−0.866). The most correlated domain and class with performance frequency appeared to be ‘ behavioral’ (r=0.431, p=0.000) and ‘ communication enhancement’ (r=0.439, p=0.000). The most important perceived nursing intervention was found to be ‘ active listening’ (3.652+/−0.549).

In conclusion, nurses in clinical settings were found to perform less than perceive its importance. Therefore, further researches are needed to identify factors related to impede and develop strategies to improve the performance of nursing interventions.