Supporting the case for “progressive universalism” in health visiting: Scottish mothers and health visitors’ perspectives on targeting and rationing health visiting services, with a focus on the Lothian Child Concern Model.

Aims. To explore parents and professionals’ experience of family assessment in health visiting (public health nursing), with a focus on the Lothian Child Concern Model (LCCM). Background. Health visitors (HVs) currently assess families as requiring core, additional or intensive support, and offer support at a corresponding level. The majority of families are assessed as core and receive no pro-active support beyond the early days. Previous assessment tools, consisting of checklists, have been criticised as being ineffective in identifying a range of health needs and unacceptable to parents and HVs. The LCCM model was developed and introduced in the study area to promote a partnership approach with parents and assess strengths as well as difficulties in parents’ capacity to care for their child. Methods. Qualitative methods were used. Ten mothers and twelve HVs took part in individual semi-structured interviews. Results. Most mothers were aware of the assessment process but some felt that they were not involved in the decision making process. Explaining the assessment process to parents is problematic and not all HVs do so. The assessment process was stressful for some mothers. HVs find the model useful for structuring and documenting the assessment process. Many believe that most families benefit from some support, using public health approaches. Families are often assessed as core because there are insufficient resources to support all those who meet the criteria of the additional category, and managers assess caseloads in terms of families with child protection concerns. Conclusions. The study findings support the concept of “progressive universalism” which provides a continuum of intensity of support to families, depending on need. Mothers would like better partnership working with HVs. Relevance to clinical practice. The study endorses proposed policy changes to re-establish the public health role of HVs and to lower the threshold for families to qualify for support.

Solar photovoltaic system applications: a guidebook for off-grid electrification.

Presenting a complete guide for the planning, design and implementation of solar PV systems for off-grid applications, this book features analysis based on the authors’ own laboratory testing as well as their in the field experiences. Incorporating the latest developments in smart-digital and control technologies into the design criteria of the PV system, this book will also focus on how to integrate newer smart design approaches and techniques for improving the efficiency, reliability and flexibility of the entire system. The design and implementation of India’s first-of its-kind Smart Mini-Grid system (SMG) at TERI premises, which involves the integration of multiple renewable energy resources (including solar PV) through smart controllers for managing the load intelligently and effectively is presented as a key case study. Maximizing reader insights into the performance of different components of solar PV systems under different operating conditions, the book will be of interest to graduate students, researchers, PV designers, planners, and practitioners working in the area of solar PV design, implementation and assessment.