Health visitor support for families with Down's syndrome infants

Abstract

A health visitor was seconded to a university-based research team studying early intervention with families who have an infant with Down''s syndrome. She was given 3 wk of practical training and then provided a home-based service for 61 families, visiting every 6 wk until 2 yr of age. Infant development and parental satisfaction with the service were compared to previous findings of the research group. Parental satisfaction was very high and the progress of the infants compared favorably to previous studies. Following this, 2 field health visitors were given the training and then provided a service in their local areas. The progress of the infants was monitored at 6-mo. intervals until 2 yr of age, and parents were interviewed. No differences were found in the developmental progress of the infants and previous groups and parental satisfaction was high. The limitations of the training and some implications for practice were discussed.