Abstract
As health visitors have ongoing supportive contact with almost all families, they have opportunities to screen parents for their alcohol use. The objective of this study was to explore approaches taken by health visitors to screening and identify parents drinking hazardous amounts of alcohol. The researchers used a focus group study design and a convenience sample of 24 health visitors, with five recruited. Using hermeneutic thematic analysis, five main themes emerged: knowledge of alcohol guidance and ways in which health visitors screen while evaluating national screening tools; health visitors' perceived barriers to screening; health visitors' attitudes towards giving and receiving advice; and health visitors' self-efficacy and training needs. The results showed that health visitors were inconsistent in their approaches to screening, but stated that they thought the use of tools such as the Fast Alcohol Screening Test would be highly beneficial. Health visitors felt that they were insufficiently trained in alcohol screening, and that national and local guidance is required to support referrals and to standardise practice.
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