Survey on key challenges facing health visitors - Your contribution needed!

[Guest guest]

Dear SENATE members

As part of a project funded by the Burdett Trust to develop a virtual Community

of practice for health visitors, we would like to engage you in some preliminary

work. We are conducting a short survey on identifying the key challenges facing

health visitors.

The survey findings will be used to help us to develop the virtual community,

which will be known as the HV community of practice evidence hub. It will allow

health visitors as a coherent professional group to share ways of addressing

reoccurring problems; provide a supportive and informal platform to interact and

discuss and facilitate the use of evidence based research, to build up a vast

body of knowledge relevant to health visitors across organisations.

In order to launch this exciting evidence hub for the health visiting community,

we are eager to hear from SENATE members on what they see as the key challenges

facing health visitors today so that we design a platform that meets the

professional needs of the HV community.

Below is a brief description of the project with a link to the short survey.

We would be grateful if you could spare the time to complete the short survey.

Many thanks

Sally Kendall, Project PI, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire

Faith Ikioda, Researcher Fellow, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire

Title of Study

Establishing a Virtual Community of Practice for Health Visitors

What is the project about?

A community of practice (CoP) refers to informal groups of professionals who

through regular communication among themselves to promote learning, develop

their expertise and produce innovative ideas about what they do. With the

advancement in internet technologies, the sort of communication afforded by CoPs

now also take place online in virtual communities. Research among health

professionals has shown that such online communities are valuable for

empowering, improving the expertise of members and enhancing lifelong learning

among professionals. We believe that by designing what we have called the HV

community of practice evidence hub where HVs across various affiliations and

organisations can bring together and share a mix of experience and knowledge

online, HVs will be more skilled, confident and empowered in providing more

efficient and informed evidence based services for families.

Who is conducting the project?

The Centre for Research into Primary and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of

Hertfordshire is leading, in partnership with other organisations, and with

funding from the Burdett Trust, the development of a virtual community of

practice for health visitors that will bring together a body of evidence and

knowledge that is relevant to all HVs. The virtual community of practice will

not only empower HVs but will also enhance their professional and mentoring

expertise and make available to other HVs the wide range of evidence at the

disposal of HVs. The aim of the project is to empower HVs in new and innovative

ways of producing knowledge and using evidence based research as a platform for

shared learning and discursive practice.

How will it work?

The HV community of practice will be hosted online on the evidence hub; a tool

developed by the Open Learning Network Project (OLnet) at the Open University.

The evidence hub provides an environment to explore projects, organisations, key

challenges, issues, solutions, research claims and evidence that scaffold the HV

practice. This evidence hub will allow HVs to access and share relevant

knowledge (this could be a personal story, web resource, key findings from a

research paper, YouTube video, podcast, research findings) affecting the

profession as a whole with other HVs in an informal but supportive environment.

Ultimately, the hub will enhance HVs practice and therefore the health and

wellbeing of children and families.

Why do we need your responses? We are in the process of getting the evidence

hub online and would like your views on what you think the key challenges facing

health visiting as a profession are. This is a voluntary survey to collect early

thoughts to stimulate the CoP, where your confidentiality and anonymity are

granted.

What am I being asked to do? You are being asked to complete an e-questionnaire

which should take about 2 minutes. The answers you give will equip the evidence

hub with the key challenges that will be used to generate and explore key

issues, research claims, and a whole range of evidence and linked organisations

that will be relevant to addressing the professional development of HVs and push

the boundaries of their profession forward.

How do I take part?

If you are happy to take part, you may complete the survey by going to the link

provided below and the submission of the survey is anonymous.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NXYC9NF

Thank you for participating.

For further details on the project contact

Sally Kendall, project PI

Director, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire

s.kendall@...

Faith Ikioda, Research Fellow, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire,

f.ikioda@...

[Guest guest]

Many thanks Faith and Sally,I do hope as many people as possible will complete the two-question survey for you as this is potentially a really valuable resource being developed for the future. The more that colleagues chip in to say what they want from it, the closer it will fit everyone's needsbest wishesOn 10 Jul 2012, at 08:14, osikwheme wrote: Dear SENATE members As part of a project funded by the Burdett Trust to develop a virtual Community of practice for health visitors, we would like to engage you in some preliminary work. We are conducting a short survey on identifying the key challenges facing health visitors. The survey findings will be used to help us to develop the virtual community, which will be known as the HV community of practice evidence hub. It will allow health visitors as a coherent professional group to share ways of addressing reoccurring problems; provide a supportive and informal platform to interact and discuss and facilitate the use of evidence based research, to build up a vast body of knowledge relevant to health visitors across organisations. In order to launch this exciting evidence hub for the health visiting community, we are eager to hear from SENATE members on what they see as the key challenges facing health visitors today so that we design a platform that meets the professional needs of the HV community. Below is a brief description of the project with a link to the short survey. We would be grateful if you could spare the time to complete the short survey. Many thanks Sally Kendall, Project PI, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire Faith Ikioda, Researcher Fellow, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire Title of Study Establishing a Virtual Community of Practice for Health Visitors What is the project about? A community of practice (CoP) refers to informal groups of professionals who through regular communication among themselves to promote learning, develop their expertise and produce innovative ideas about what they do. With the advancement in internet technologies, the sort of communication afforded by CoPs now also take place online in virtual communities. Research among health professionals has shown that such online communities are valuable for empowering, improving the expertise of members and enhancing lifelong learning among professionals. We believe that by designing what we have called the HV community of practice evidence hub where HVs across various affiliations and organisations can bring together and share a mix of experience and knowledge online, HVs will be more skilled, confident and empowered in providing more efficient and informed evidence based services for families. Who is conducting the project? The Centre for Research into Primary and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of Hertfordshire is leading, in partnership with other organisations, and with funding from the Burdett Trust, the development of a virtual community of practice for health visitors that will bring together a body of evidence and knowledge that is relevant to all HVs. The virtual community of practice will not only empower HVs but will also enhance their professional and mentoring expertise and make available to other HVs the wide range of evidence at the disposal of HVs. The aim of the project is to empower HVs in new and innovative ways of producing knowledge and using evidence based research as a platform for shared learning and discursive practice. How will it work? The HV community of practice will be hosted online on the evidence hub; a tool developed by the Open Learning Network Project (OLnet) at the Open University. The evidence hub provides an environment to explore projects, organisations, key challenges, issues, solutions, research claims and evidence that scaffold the HV practice. This evidence hub will allow HVs to access and share relevant knowledge (this could be a personal story, web resource, key findings from a research paper, YouTube video, podcast, research findings) affecting the profession as a whole with other HVs in an informal but supportive environment. Ultimately, the hub will enhance HVs practice and therefore the health and wellbeing of children and families. Why do we need your responses? We are in the process of getting the evidence hub online and would like your views on what you think the key challenges facing health visiting as a profession are. This is a voluntary survey to collect early thoughts to stimulate the CoP, where your confidentiality and anonymity are granted. What am I being asked to do? You are being asked to complete an e-questionnaire which should take about 2 minutes. The answers you give will equip the evidence hub with the key challenges that will be used to generate and explore key issues, research claims, and a whole range of evidence and linked organisations that will be relevant to addressing the professional development of HVs and push the boundaries of their profession forward. How do I take part? If you are happy to take part, you may complete the survey by going to the link provided below and the submission of the survey is anonymous. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NXYC9NF Thank you for participating. For further details on the project contact Sally Kendall, project PI Director, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire s.kendall@... Faith Ikioda, Research Fellow, CRIPACC, University of Hertfordshire, f.ikioda@... Cowleysarahcowley183@...http://myprofile.cos.com/S124021COn