Developing and Implementing a Family Health Assessment
| Leader(s) | Kate Sanders, Health Visitor |
| Location | Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust |
| Duration | February 1999 – September 2001 |
| Received for Publication | July 2002 |
This project aimed to develop a standardised approach to the assessment of family health needs. The Family Health Assessment (FHA) was developed by a group of health visitors using evidence from a variety of sources. The approach supports the active involvement of clients in the assessment of health needs as recommended by the Health Visitor Practice Development Resource Pack (Department of Health, 2001).
Feedback from health visitors and clients involved in small scale pilot study suggested that using the FHA can enable clients to identify their own health needs and inform and support health visiting practice. However, limitations of the findings were recognised and attempts to address these were made when introducing the FHA into practice in several localities. Issues relating to the facilitation of changes in health visiting practice were identified along with the challenges and opportunities relating to health visitors actively involving clients in the assessment process.
Other related references:
Sanders, K. (2006) Parents’ views of a Family Health Assessment. Community Practitioner. Vol. 79. No. 9. pp 284-288.
Sanders, K. (2004) Developing and Implementing a Family Health Assessment: From Project Worker to Practice Developer. Chapter 13 in McCormack, B., Manley, K. and Garbett, R. (Eds) (2004) Practice Development in Nursing. Balckwell Publishing: Oxford.
This project was supported by a FoNS Large Project Grant.