Features | Community Practitioner

Read the journal’s professional features, analysis, clinical updates and practice-related articles.

The right move?

Dawn Loman, senior lecturer in SCPHN, asks what influences nurses to hang up their uniforms and become health visitors.

Employment, Jobs, Professional

The building blocks of learning

CPs can help develop the four key competencies present at birth and plug gaps in children’s cognitive development, says Kirsten Asmussen of the Early Intervention Foundation.

AdviceHealth and wellbeing, Professional, Growth and development

The lay of the land

Community practitioners working in remote and rural areas face a rather different set of challenges from those in town. Journalist Radhika Holmström investigates country CP life.

AnalysisEmployment, Jobs, Professional

Waking up to the child sleep crisis

As sleep issues in children increase and parents struggle to access specialist sleep services, how can CPs best support families? Journalist Georgina Wintersgill reports.

Employment, Jobs, Professional

Health visitors working in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales face a range of both unique and shared challenges that are impacting practice. Journalist Anna Scott highlights the reality across the UK.

AnalysisEmployment, Jobs, Professional

Eczema: soothing soreness

Recent research has cast doubt over the use of additive bath oils to treat childhood eczema. Journalist John Windell asks what the best advice is to give parents now.

Best practiceSkincare

Change the focus

Mindfulness teacher and trainer Singhashri Gazmuri reveals how you can benefit from mindfulness and compassion in your day-to-day working life and beyond.

Health and wellbeing, Professional

Disability: the independent way

Parents with physical disabilities experience a unique set of challenges, yet many do not get the support they need. Journalist Madeleine Bailey looks at how you can help reverse this trend.

Best practiceVulnerability

One too many? Families with multiple births

It is not just medical complications that families with multiple births face. Ryan Scoats, Jane Denton and Merryl Harvey look at the financial, psychological and social support obstacles they must overcome.

Best practiceVulnerability

Eating with caution

With childhood food allergies on the rise, you can play an important part in keeping children safe. Journalist Georgina Wintersgill reports.

Best practiceAllergies

Consumer overload

Could it be time to return to a more back-to-basics culture, given the pressure parents face to buy goods before their child is even born, regardless of necessity or affordability? Journalist Beverley D’Silva reports.

Best practiceBehaviour

STIs: testing times

Sexually transmitted infection rates among young people remain too high. Journalist Rima Evans asks if attempts to limit transmission are working.

Best practiceVulnerability, Sexual health

On the edge

The suicide rate in the UK may be going down, but three times more men than women took their own life last year. Journalist Sarah Campbell asks what’s going on and how you can make a difference.

AnalysisHealth and wellbeing, Vulnerability, Mental Health

Feeling stuck? Get creative!

Lab4Living looks at how to enhance the innate design and problem-solving skills of community practitioners.

AdviceProfessional

HV caseload crunch

Dave Munday, lead professional officer at Unite, looks at how inflated caseloads are causing health visitors in England to struggle.

AnalysisProfessional

SUDI: the bitterest loss

The number of unexpected and unexplained infant deaths has plummeted since the 1990s, but making further reductions now requires more intense and targeted work, writes journalist John Windell.

AdviceVulnerability, Professional, Safeguarding

Bringing period policy up to date

Working women are expected to cope unsupported with period problems. Journalist Juliette Astrup looks at ending the stigma of periods at work and asks if taking time off could be the answer.

AnalysisVulnerability, Professional