The public health roles of health visitors and school nurses: a survey.
This article describes a qualitative study that examined the family centre public health role of health visitors and the child-centre public health role of school nurses. A telephone survey of key health visitor and school nurse informants in the West Midlands was undertaken. Respondents to the survey were asked to give examples of practice that related to Holman's (1992) public health typology. A wealth of data were obtained, which included 344 different examples of practice interventions. The majority of examples of practice given by the respondents were categorized as primary preventive interventions. The least represented concerned community empowerment and health protection. The findings of the survey give evidence of the current transitional nature health visitor and school nurse practice. Identified is some reorientation in practice and adoption of currently advocated models of public health, which have community participation, empowerment, and health protection as essential features.
Jinks
Annette
A
Dept. of Nursing, Staffordshire University, UK. a.jinks@staffs.ac.uk
Smith
Maureen
M
Ashdown-Lambert
Joan
J
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018672:Community Health Planning; D003256:Community Participation; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012573:School Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires