Kendrick Denise, Illingworth Rachel, Hapgood Rhydian, Woods Amanda J, Collier Jacqueline
Senior Lecturer, Division of Primary Care, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
J Adv Nurs. 2003 Sep;43(5):488-95. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02746.x.
Baby walkers are a commonly used item of nursery equipment. Between 12% and 50% of parents whose infant uses a walker report that their child has suffered a walker-related injury. Health visitors' knowledge, attitudes and practice with regard to walkers and related health education has not been explored so far.
The aim of the study was to describe health visitors' knowledge of walkers and walker-related injuries, their attitudes towards walkers and current practice with regard to walker health education, and to examine the relationship between knowledge and attitudes and knowledge and practice.
A survey was carried out with 64 health visitors prior to participation in a randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of an educational package in reducing baby walker use.
The response rate was 95%. Half of the health visitors always discussed walkers postnatally, most frequently at the 6-9 month check. Most did not usually discuss the frequency of walker-related injuries. Most had negative attitudes towards walkers, but believed that parents hold positive attitudes to them and that it is hard to persuade parents not to use them. Health visitors had a limited knowledge of walker use and walker-related injuries. Those giving advice on walkers most often had higher knowledge scores than those giving advice less often (P = 0.03). Those with higher knowledge scores held more negative attitudes towards walkers (rs = 0.29, P = 0.023) and believed parents to have more positive attitudes towards walkers (rs = -0.49, P < 0.001). Few health visitors had resources to discuss walkers.
Health visitor advice regarding walkers needs to be given earlier in the postnatal period than is currently common practice, and they need more knowledge about walker use and related injuries. Education about baby walkers needs to be incorporated into undergraduate and in-service education, which may need to include the development of skills in exploring reasons why parents use walkers and in negotiating alternatives to their use. The provision of audio-visual aids for discussing walkers might also be helpful.
婴儿学步车是育儿设备中常用的物品。在使用学步车的婴儿的父母中，12%至50%的人报告称他们的孩子曾遭受与学步车相关的伤害。迄今为止，尚未对健康访视员关于学步车及相关健康教育的知识、态度和做法进行过探究。
本研究的目的是描述健康访视员对学步车及与学步车相关伤害的知识、他们对学步车的态度以及当前在学步车健康教育方面的做法，并考察知识与态度以及知识与做法之间的关系。
在参与一项评估教育套餐在减少婴儿学步车使用方面有效性的随机对照试验之前，对64名健康访视员进行了一项调查。
回复率为95%。一半的健康访视员在产后总是会讨论学步车，最常在6至9个月检查时讨论。大多数人通常不会讨论与学步车相关伤害的发生率。大多数人对学步车持消极态度，但认为家长对学步车持积极态度，且很难说服家长不使用学步车。健康访视员对学步车使用及与学步车相关伤害的知识有限。那些经常就学步车提供建议的人通常比那些不常提供建议的人知识得分更高（P = 0.03）。知识得分较高的人对学步车持更消极的态度（rs = 0.29，P = 0.023），并认为家长对学步车持更积极的态度（rs = -0.49，P < 0.001）。很少有健康访视员有资源来讨论学步车。
关于学步车的健康访视员建议需要在产后比目前的常规做法更早给出，并且他们需要更多关于学步车使用及相关伤害的知识。婴儿学步车的教育需要纳入本科教育和在职教育，这可能需要包括培养探索家长使用学步车原因以及协商替代使用方法的技能。提供用于讨论学步车的视听辅助工具可能也会有所帮助。
