Abstract
Two aspects of a study examining the congruence of critical caring theory with public health nursing practice are reported. They confirm a congruence between expert public health nursing practice and the theory in terms of (a) a caring/social justice ethics that underpins practice and (b) the relevance to their practice of the carative health promoting process of contributing to the creation of supportive and sustainable physical, social, political, and economic environments. Public health nurse participants encountered many barriers to a practice underpinned by a caring/social justice ethic, some of which limited their moral agency.