King's College London , Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwidfery , Parkside Project

The Parkside Project aimed to critically analyse the needs assessment process made by health visitors and to determine whether this process aided health promotion in families. It was a small exploratory study conducted over the period Jan 2000-Mar 2001, based at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwidfery at King's College London and was led by Sarah Cowley, Professor of Community Practise Development. The data for the project was collected through interviews with health visitors and clients in Parkside NHS Trust. 25 health visitors took part in a semi-structured telephone interview. 4 were selected to be observed on visits made to 3 contrasting families chosen by the health visiters. Following observation, in-depth interviews were conducted with the 4 health visiters and the 12 families. The full project title is `An exploration of the extent to which the health visitor assessment process in Parkside NHS Trust promotes the health of the families involved'.