A community health needs evaluation : improving uptake of services at a children's centre in a deprived and geographically isolated town

Long, T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2726-8798, Fallon, D, Devitt, P, Oak, E, Murphy, M and Dugdill, L 2008, 'A community health needs evaluation : improving uptake of services at a children's centre in a deprived and geographically isolated town' , Journal of Children's and Young People's Nursing, 2 (3) , pp. 108-114.

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Abstract

The evaluation identified health and social trends for this deprived and geographically isolated area, elicited perceived health needs of under-fives in the local community, and informed development and improvement of services offered by a children’s centre. Sure Start children’s centres are crucial to delivery of outcomes of the Every Child Matters policy initiative as well as offering support for parenting. The children’s centre in the study sought to develop its services and to increase the numbers of registered users particularly among ‘hard to reach’ groups in the locality. Leafleting, street-canvassing, primary school newsletters and posters were used to advise the community of the consultation. Data were collected by telephone interviews, group and face-to-face interviews with parents and professionals, structured interviews in the town centre streets and analysis of policy and health statistics documents. The area was characterized by inadequate transport links and limited sources of good value local food supplies. The key areas of Every Child Matters were not meaningful concepts to most parents in connecting to their children’s health. Residents and professionals recognized low levels of parental expectations for their children. Specific barriers to service uptake were identified, but the children’s centre made a positive contribution to the health and well-being of the population, providing an effective service in terms of variety, resources and professional help. Additional services, better access to some services, revised opening times, additional transport, and integration of provision for siblings resulted from the study.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Subjects / Themes > R Medicine > RT Nursing Health and Wellbeing
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Health Sciences Research
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Children's and Young People's Nursing
Publisher:	Mark Allen Publishing
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	1753-1594
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Institutional Repository
Date Deposited:	23 May 2011 12:09
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 11:07
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/13939

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