The development of the health visitor-client relationship

The aim of this paper is to explore the health visitor-client relationship as it emerged in an indepth qualitative study of health visiting practice. Despite the emphasis in health visiting practice on developing relationships with clients, there is little empirically based knowledge as to how health visitors develop relationships with clients and what effect relationships have on clients' health outcomes. Forty-five experienced health visitors were interviewed and asked to discuss cases where they felt they had had a positive effect and cases where they thought they had not had any impact. The interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed. A detailed analysis of the processes involved in developing relationships is described. The data from this study suggest that health visitors develop relationships with clients in an attempt, not only to provide services to clients, but also to ensure access to clients over time. This study makes a contribution to our understanding of the processes involved in everyday health visiting practice.