A survey of key informants and the public health role of health visitors and the child-centred role of school nurses

This article describes a qualitative study that examined the familycentred public health role of health visitors and the child-centred public health role of school nurses. A telephone sur vey of key health visitor and school nurse informants in the West Midlands was under taken. Respondents to the sur vey were asked to give examples of practice that related to Holman’s (1992) public health typology. A wealth of data were obtained, which included 344 different examples of practice inter ventions. The majority of examples of practice given by the respondents were categorized as primary preventive interventions. The least represented concerned community empowerment and health protection. The findings of the survey give evidence of the current transitional nature health visitor and school nurse practice. Identified is some reorientation in practice and adoption of currently advocated models of public health, which have community participation, empowerment, and health protection as essential features.