A history of health visiting and parenting in the last 50 years

Although the nineteenth century origins of health visiting have been well documented, rather less attention had been paid to the development of this profession in the last 50 years. Similarly, although 'parenting' is of concern and interest to contemporary society less is known about its development during the past half-century. This paper draws upon two, hitherto much underused data sources - the 'Jameson Report (1956) and the work of John and Elizabeth Newson (1963 and 1968) to explore the history of health visiting and 'parenting'. The sources suggest that health visiting and parenting are intertwined with health visiting supporting of parenting in two main ways - one focusing on interventions with individual families and the other addressing the social context in which 'parenting' has taken place. Four phases of health visiting practice are identified and analyzed according to the nature of parenting support offered therein.