More support needed for Health Visitors
Research carried out by the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London has revealed that while health visitors deliver real benefits to patients and families, there is a need for more research and better education in order to develop the profession. The review, entitled Why Health Visiting? supports the Department of Health’s Health Visitor Implementation Plan 2011 – 2015.
The role and function of health visitors has come to the fore in recent years, because of increasing evidence about the vital importance of pregnancy and the first few years of life to the individuals’ future health and social well-being. This review aimed to assess the research evidence about the impact of health visiting practice, including whether or not it makes a difference in terms of outcomes for families.
The project was led by Professor Dame Sarah Cowley, Visiting Professor of Community Practice Development, who was honoured with a DBE in the 2013 New Year’s Honour’s for services to health visiting, as well as a Life Time Achievement Award from Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, in recognition of her contribution to the profession.
Professor Cowley said:
“Health Visitors play an essential role in supporting new parents and families, so they can make the best use of services and access help if and when they need it. The role health visitors have, such as helping mothers to feel more confident and to interact with their child, can have huge benefits for both parent and infant. Their one-to-one relationship with parents puts them in a unique position to offer health advice and support and they can often help families who may struggle to access services ordinarily.”
The literature review analysed nearly 350 research papers focussed on health visiting practice in order to assess the relationship between current health visiting provision and outcomes for children and families. The research review showed that health visitors can have a positive impact on health and add value, if they practice using a particular orientation to practice, which is given expression through a process that combines relationship-formation with home visiting and needs assessment. Health visitors need a particular set of skills, attitudes and attributes and the health visiting service needs to be organised in ways that supports this form of practice, along with implementation of proven programmes and approaches to promote health and well-being.
The report includes recommendations for researchers, community health organisations, educationalists and policy-makers.
Professor Cowley continued:
“While our study found a lot of strengths in current provision, more research is needed in the field and there should be greater collaboration to ensure health visiting is considered within the wider context of services. There also needs to be more investment in education programmes for health visitors, including Continuing Professional Development, and recruitment of students must take account of the values, skills and attitudes that are essential to the role.”
Viv Bennett, Director of Nursing at the Department of Health and Lead Nurse at Public Health England, said:
“Health visitors have an essential role to play in improving and protecting health and promoting well-being and this is especially important for vulnerable families. Our aim is to increase the number of health visitors by around 50% by 2015 and this research is an important part of developing a service and ensuring the best outcomes for children and families from this expansion. The report shows the direction of travel is the right one and I welcome it drawing attention to the need for more attention to education and training, and the way the service is organised.”
Why Health Visiting? A review of the literature about key health visitor interventions, processes and outcomes for children and families along with the Report Appendices are available on the National Nursing Research Unit’s webpage.