Conectar
The debate about whether health visiting, a specialist community public health nursing role, is at the level of advanced practice nurse has gone on for more than a decade. There is little empirical evidence that the role matches the traditional role of an advanced practice nurse, although many of the attributes of advanced practice nursing such as prescribing rights, managing complex cases, caseloads with undifferentiated need and advanced assessment and decision-making are certainly present.
The current study aimed to develop, refine and test the Health Visiting Advanced Practice Scale to assess the scope of advanced practice of UK health visitors.
A cross-sectional and methodological scale validation design, following classical test theory.
The design consisted of three phases; the first involved scale development including item generation, phase two assessed the content validity index, and the third phase involved a cross-sectional survey to establish construct validity, content validity, and internal consistency reliability, and conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.
The initial 44-item scale underwent iterative exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, leading to a refined 5-factor structure with 29 items covering domains such as family-centred care, leadership, prescribing, diagnostic reasoning, and professional practice. This final version demonstrated strong reliability and construct validity in the EFA but mixed fit indices in the CFA, supporting both internal consistency and validity of the scale.
The final scale offers a rigorously validated tool for assessing advanced practice among UK health visitors, capturing core domains such as family-centred care, leadership, prescribing, and diagnostic reasoning. By bridging theoretical frameworks with real-world practice, it fills a critical gap in evaluating and supporting the professional scope of this public health nursing specialty.
These findings provide valid and reliable insights for measuring and improving health visitors' advanced practice and developing future professional policies.
No patient or public contribution.
STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines for cross-sectional studies.
Stroke is a global health concern. A timely response to a stroke can help reduce morbidity and mortality. However, barriers to timely response include poor recognition of stroke symptoms. Stroke symptom messages are designed to increase stroke recognition and encourage individuals to seek urgent medical assistance. The Face, Arm, Speech, Time (FAST) and Balance, Eyes, Face, Arm, Speech, Time (BE FAST) are commonly used stroke symptom messages shown to improve stroke symptom recognition and response. However, cultural factors and language differences may limit the effectiveness of stroke symptom messages and their acceptability in different countries and contexts. There has not been a comprehensive examination of the stroke symptom messages used worldwide and how these messages have been adapted in various settings.
We explored what stroke response messages are being used globally, and the contextual factors that influence the adoption of a stroke response mnemonic in different settings.
A 14-item survey was disseminated by the World Stroke Organization to its networks. The survey contained open- and closed-ended questions and allowed uploading relevant stroke symptom campaign materials. The survey was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a content analysis.
All except one survey respondent used a stroke symptom message. Fifteen respondents (27%) reported they did not translate their stroke awareness messaging. Of these 15 respondents, they used the English versions of FAST (n = 8), BE FAST (n = 4), and both FAST and BE FAST (n = 3). Forty respondents (71%) reported that they/their organization used an acronym to raise public awareness of the signs/symptoms of stroke that was different from FAST or BE FAST (English), many of which were direct or indirect translations or influenced by FAST and BE FAST. Survey responses shared insights and recommendations related to the content, tailoring and dissemination of stroke symptom messages.
Study findings highlight the global use of stroke symptom messages and their contextual adaptations to fit diverse settings and contexts. The challenges in applying universal or commonly used stroke symptom messages to different contexts were highlighted.
Nurses could have a key role in raising awareness of stroke symptoms and the development of locally adapted stroke symptom messages.
FreshRSS 