The role of ethnicity in determining access to and acceptability of home visiting for early childhood health and wellbeing

Abstract

This paper explores access to and acceptability of home visiting for early childhood health and wellbeing among the New South Wales population. The study examined demographic and social characteristics of children and their families to identify the factors that predicted home visiting by a community health nurse or volunteer, as well as the level of acceptability of home visiting as a strategy for improving child health. The data were extracted from the 2001 NSW Child Health Survey and a total of 3570 respondents who reported having a child aged 4 years or under were included in the study. The results show that culturally and linguistically diverse populations were less likely to be visited by a nurse or volunteer (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.78; 95% CI, 0.64?0.97), and when they were visited were more likely to find the visit ?uncomfortable? or ?very uncomfortable? (adjusted OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.19?1.99). Other factors associated with acceptability included the age of both children and mothers, education levels of parents and home smoking status. For home visiting to be effective in promoting child health, these factors must be considered.