'Think Baby': online learning for student health visitors

'Think Baby' is an innovative online learning resource which has been developed to help student health visitors (and other specialist community public health nurses) build their skills in observing and assessing mother-infant interactions. The project's development and pilot work was funded by a small grant from the Higher Education Academy. It builds on the findings of the team's previous research, which found health visitors' initial training had left them ill-prepared to assess the intricacies of mother-infant relationships. The 'Think Baby' project sought to develop online training resources for student health visitors using video footage of mothers and babies to illustrate different types of interactions. A small group of student health visitors were engaged in reviewing and evaluating the materials and considering their acceptability. Once developed, the materials were piloted with student health visitors from three universities, community practice teachers and a health visitor academic, and they were then adapted for wider roll out. 'Think Baby' enables student health visitors to develop their core skills in assessment, which is really important in identifying when early help and support are needed for mothers and infants.