The role of health visitors in the prevention of home accidents involving children: time for a rethink?

Abstract

Home accidents involving children are an important public health problem in developed and developing countries. There is uncertainty concerning the effectiveness of different approaches to child home accident prevention, and a need to evaluate current practice. This paper reports the findings of an interview survey of all 57 health visitors working in Clydebank and the north-west area of Glasgow, concerning their role in child home accident prevention. Their role consisted mainly of education of children and families in home safety, using face-to-face discussion and leaflets. Forty-seven per cent of health visitors reported difficulty in raising home safety issues with families. Ninety-four per cent did not think that the educational approach had been effective in reducing child home accidents and in improving home safety behaviour of families. This poses the question of whether the time of health workers and health service resources should be invested in alternative approaches.