The aim of this study was to explore healthcare professionals’ experiences of working with extended home visits for parents.

It is essential to identify parents, both expectant and with a newborn child, who need support in their parenting abilities at an early stage because children’s health and well-being are affected by their home environment as well as by their parents’ health and social relationships. Home visits represent a cost-effective way of identifying and supporting families with a newborn. Further research is needed to explore healthcare professionals’ experiences working with extended home visits for parents.

This was a qualitative interview study focusing on an intervention introduced in the Enhanced Parenting—Extended Home Visits project in Sweden. Data were collected via 13 semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals who provide the intervention in antenatal care (midwives) and child health care (CHC nurses and family supporters), and a qualitative content analysis was performed.

Data analysis resulted in one theme and four categories. The theme – to provide multidimensional adapted professional support, – and the four categories – strengthened collaboration between professionals enriches their work. Home visits provide time for conversation, which promotes continuity of care and relationships with parents; being humble guests in parents’ homes provides insight; and home visits provide the opportunity to strengthen parenting and participation in the family centre. The goals of the Enhanced Parenting—Extended Home Visits project were to strengthen parents’ confidence in their parenting abilities and to build trusting relationships with healthcare professionals. The conclusion of this study, from the participants’ perspective, is that these goals can be achieved with the intervention.

Extended home visits seem to help healthcare professionals provide collaborative, multi-professional support for parents, both expectant and with a newborn child, with unique support needs.

To examine women’s experience of professional support for breast-feeding and health-care professionals’ experience of providing support.

We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews among women with experience of breast-feeding and health-care professionals with infant feeding roles. Interviews with women were designed to explore their experience of support for breast-feeding antenatally, in hospital and postnatally. Interviews with health-care professionals were designed to explore their views on their role and experience in providing breast-feeding support. Interview transcripts were analysed using content analysis and aspects of Grounded Theory. Overarching themes and categories within the two sets were identified.

Urban and suburban areas of North Dublin, Ireland.

Twenty-two women all of whom had experience of breast-feeding and fifty-eight health-care professionals.

Two overarching themes emerged and in each of these a number of categories were developed: theme 1, facilitators to breast-feeding support, within which being facilitated to breast-feed, having the right person at the right time, being discerning and breast-feeding support groups were discussed; and theme 2, barriers to breast-feeding support, within which time, conflicting information, medicalisation of breast-feeding and the role of health-care professionals in providing support for breast-feeding were discussed.

Breast-feeding is being placed within a medical model of care in Ireland which is dependent on health-care professionals. There is a need for training around breast-feeding for all health-care professionals; however, they are limited in their support due to external barriers such as lack of time. Alternative support such as peer support workers should be provided.