McAtamney Rosemarie
NHS Forth Valley.
Community Pract. 2011 Aug;84(8):33-7.
The assessment of parent-infant relationships is an important process in safeguarding and promoting the health of children. There is compelling evidence of the importance of early attachment on the infant's neurological and emotional development. Health visitors are uniquely well placed to identify problems in the parent-infant relationship and to help improve its quality. This study explored health visitors' perceptions of their role in assessing and supporting parent-infant relationships and their views of their own educational needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of six experienced health visitors. Health visitors used multiple sources of information in assessing parent-child relationships, including direct observation of behaviour, assessment of known risk factors, knowledge of norms and 'intuition'. Strategies to support the parent-infant-relationship included parenting support at home, listening support, encouraging parenting group attendance and referral to other support agencies. Health visitors reported a lack of training in parent-infant relationships. General agreement is required nationally and locally on educational and clinical experience prerequisites for this aspect of the health visitor role. Reduced client contact, as well as a lack of training in and use of specific 'relationship assessment' tools, may affect this. The Solihull Approach to mental health may be useful for informing future health visitor training and practice.
评估亲子关系是保障和促进儿童健康的重要过程。有确凿证据表明早期依恋对婴儿的神经和情感发育至关重要。健康访视员在识别亲子关系中的问题并帮助改善其质量方面具有独特的优势。本研究探讨了健康访视员对其在评估和支持亲子关系中所扮演角色的看法以及他们对自身教育需求的观点。对六名经验丰富的健康访视员进行了有目的抽样的半结构化访谈。健康访视员在评估亲子关系时使用多种信息来源，包括对行为的直接观察、对已知风险因素的评估、对规范的了解以及“直觉”。支持亲子关系的策略包括在家中提供育儿支持、倾听支持、鼓励参加育儿小组以及转介至其他支持机构。健康访视员报告称在亲子关系方面缺乏培训。国家和地方需要就健康访视员这一角色在这方面的教育和临床经验先决条件达成普遍共识。客户接触减少，以及缺乏对特定“关系评估”工具的培训和使用，可能会对此产生影响。索利赫尔心理健康方法可能有助于为未来健康访视员的培训和实践提供参考。
