Infant and pre‐school child health promotion: what do health visitors and general practitioners think is important and what do they record?

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective To identify health visitors' and general practitioners' views on pre‐school child health promotion and to describe the health promotion content of child health surveillance reviews during the first year of life.Setting and sample One health visitor and general practitioner from 28 general practices in Nottingham, UK. Personal child health records of 2001 infants registered with the 28 practices.Methods Each health visitor and general practitioner were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview schedule. Copies of child health surveillance reviews recorded in personal child health records of infants during their first year of life were collected and analysed.Results Injury prevention and healthy eating were identified by health visitors and general practitioners as the most important health promotion topics to discuss with parents of pre‐school children. The health visitor was the member of the primary care team most frequently said to have a role in discussing health promotion. Health visitors were more likely than general practitioners to say they discussed health promotion at child health surveillance reviews (p = 0.0004). Few general practitioners said they discussed injury prevention at child health surveillance reviews. Health promotion issues were poorly recorded in personal child health records.Conclusions Although health visitors and general practitioners say they discuss health promotion at pre‐school child health surveillance reviews, it is not well recorded during the first year of life. Redesigning the child health surveillance review pages in personal child health records could encourage health visitors and general practitioners to discuss and record health promotion during child health surveillance reviews.