Parents' views of a Family Health Assessment.

This paper reports on a qualitative study that was undertaken to evaluate a structured health needs assessment, the Family Health Assessment (FHA), from the perspective of parents with pre-school children. Nine mothers were involved in two focus group discussions. Some of the mothers reported that using the FHA with a health visitor had been a positive experience because it had enabled them to identify their health needs and access appropriate advice and support. Other mothers, however, did not find the FHA particularly useful as they did not feel that the FHA was relevant to them at the time and they were unclear about why they were being asked some of the questions. The key findings are outlined in relation to the current context of health visiting, which is supporting a family-centred public health role and the limited but contemporary literature exploring the use of structured approaches to health needs assessment. Recommendations for future research and developments are made.