Patterns of evaluations of accents amongst health visitor students

The rationale for a research-orientated approach to health visiting is discussed and the application of research material adapted from the behavioural sciences to the study of health visiting practice is considered. A study using the 'matched guise' technique was conducted to determine health visitor student attitudes to accent. The sample consisted of 72 female students from three colleges in the south east of England. Each set of students was randomly divided into a control and variable group. An actor read the stimulus material in four different guises: south east educated accent, Birmingham, Yorkshire and Asian accented English. The control group heard the prestige south east educated accent and the second group heard one of three other accents which acted as the variable. The subjects were then asked to rate the speaker's personality on 17 bipolar scales of personality traits. Significant results were obtained on the personality ratings, but this pattern did not reflect previous research findings. Overall subject scores showed that the speaker was rated as favourably when using the Birmingham, Yorkshire and south east accented English, but significantly less favourably when using the Asian accented English. The possible reasons for these results and the implications for health visiting are discussed.