Solution-focused conversations: a new therapeutic strategy in well child health nursing telephone consultations.
OBJECTIVE
This paper is a report of a study to explore well child nurses' perceptions of outcomes resulting from the use of solution-focused conversations in their telephone consultations with clients.


BACKGROUND
Well child nurses (health visitors) in some services provide a separate telephone consultation service for parents who need immediate advice or are unable to visit the clinic. As well as purely physical issues suggesting infant pathology, these consultations address a range of other concerns relating to parenting and child behaviour. The standard problem-solving approach used to address physical issues is less effective for various non-physical concerns, where different communication strategies may be helpful.


METHODS
In this qualitative, action-oriented study, a small group of well child telenurses in New Zealand was introduced to a specific communication strategy, called 'solution-focused conversations', during 2005. They applied this approach in their practice and then reflected together on their experiences in focus groups.


RESULTS
The nurses considered that the solution-focused conversations enabled clients to: recognize the nature of the parenting issue of concern that had motivated their call; identify more effective parenting practices to address specific issues with their child; increase their confidence in their own parenting capabilities.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggested the value of learning a specific communication strategy for the practice of a group of well child telenurses. Solution-focused conversation is a suitable approach for the single, relatively short, interactions involved in telephone nursing. Other communication strategies could be appropriate for nurses in different clinical situations.
Polaschek
Linda
L
Royal New Zealand Plunket Society (Inc.), Wellington, New Zealand. polaschek@paradise.net.nz
Polaschek
Nick
N
D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009520:New Zealand; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D010371:Pediatric Nursing; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000379:methods; D013689:Telephone