[Clients' and public health nurses' views of home visits in maternal and child health care].

The purpose of this study was to describe the views of clients and public health nurses of home visits in maternal and child health care and their advantages. In addition, a description of freedom to choose between home visits or child health care clinics visits is given. The data were gathered using semi-structured questionnaires from 263 public health nurses and 323 clients during October-November 1992 from 203 Finnish health centers. Methods of statistical description included frequencies, percentage distributions and cross-tabulation. Clients regarded the home visits to be important for them in public health nursing. Clients described that the most important function of home visits was the information they got of child's growth and care. As for the public health nurses, support given to the clients and continuity of the care were considered to be the most important issues. Both clients and public health nurses regarded it to be important that the family and the child can stay at home and the mother does not need to go to the clinic. In addition, public health nurses described that the advantages of home visits were the possibilities to get a picture of family's situation and circumstances. The disadvantages were connected with the time-consuming nature of the home visits. Clients and public health nurses had different opinions of the clients' possibilities to choose either home visit or regular visit to the health center. About half of the clients described that they could make a choice. On the other hand, the majority (90%) of public health nurses felt that clients had opportunities to choose what they want.