Health home visiting for vulnerable families: what has occurred and what is yet to arrive?

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne M. Stubbs ◽  
Helen M. Achat
Keyword(s):  
Infant Development ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Coordinated Care ◽  
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
Health Home

Sustained health home visiting (SHHV) is a valuable means of implementing early intervention for vulnerable families with infants or young children. This first of a two-part report describes clients and identifies nurses’ activities with or on behalf of clients as part of a pilot SHHV program undertaken within a socioeconomically disadvantaged suburban area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A forthcoming report describes the results of the intervention. Child and family health nurses visited vulnerable clients who were pregnant and/or had an infant aged 36 months or younger. Interventions consisted of direct and indirect (i.e. services involving a third party) client contact. Nurses documented all activities undertaken with or on behalf of clients using pre-determined codes. Over 29 months, the program accepted 136 referrals and 118 (87%) consented to the evaluation. Families had a mean of eight risk factors, which commonly included current mental health symptoms or disorders (49%), a history or current experience of domestic violence (51%) and being known to the Department of Community Services (40%). Nurses’ most frequent interventions addressed the main carer’s emotional and health needs, and infant development. Clients’ level of need required coordinated care from a specialised multidisciplinary team, which was unavailable to program clients and their families.

Nurses’ experiences of home visiting new parents in rural and regional communities in Australia: a descriptive qualitative study

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Anne Fraser ◽  
Marie Hutchinson ◽  
Jessica Appleton
Keyword(s):  
Home Visiting ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Nursing Role ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Home Based ◽  
The Family ◽  
Universal Health ◽  
The Way

Purpose Child and family health (CAFH) services in Australia initially provide at least one nurse-home-visit following the birth of a child. Planning and referral then commences for the on-going provision of appropriate services to families. Unfortunately, services in rural and regional communities in Australia can be fragmented and poorly resourced. Little is known about CAFH nurses’ experiences of working with families in these communities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the way CAFH nurses work within a universal health service model that may be compromised by isolation, discontinuity and fragmentation. Design/methodology/approach Focus groups with 26 CAFH nurses from five rural, two regional and one urban community in New South Wales (NSW), Australia were conducted. A secondary, thematic analysis of the qualitative data were undertaken to reflect on change and continuity in the field of universal CAFH services. Analysis was driven by two key research questions: How do CAFH nurses experience their role in universal home-based CAFH services within rural and regional areas of Australia and, what unique factors are present in rural and regional areas that impact on their CAFH nursing role? Findings The experience of the CAFH nurses as presented by these data revealed a role that was family centred and concerned for the welfare of the family, yet compromised by the need to meet the disproportionately complex needs of families in the absence of a strong network of services. The opportunity to present the findings provides insight into the way in which families engage with available services in isolated communities. CAFH nurses in the study attempted to maintain service integrity by adapting to the unique context of their work. Originality/value It is important to understand the mechanisms through which CAFH nurses operate to work effectively with families referred to their service. This paper describes the way in which CAFH nurses work with families not meeting the threshold for more intensive and targeted home-visiting service delivery in rural and regional communities of NSW, Australia.

Structured social relationships: a review of volunteer home visiting programs for parents of young children

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Byrne ◽  
Rebekah Grace ◽  
Jaimie Tredoux ◽  
Lynn Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Body ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Health And Well Being

Objective The aims of the present paper were to: (1) review the research literature that contributes to an understanding of the role of volunteer home visiting programs in supporting the health and well being of families with young children; and (2) propose a conceptual model outlining service pathways for families in need of additional support. Methods An integrative literature review method was used, with a mix of electronic and manual search methods for the period January 1980–January 2014. Forty-five studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria for review and were coded according to themes developed a priori. Results There is little formal research that has examined the effectiveness of volunteer home visiting programs for supporting family health and well being. The available research suggests that volunteer home visiting programs provide socioemotional support through structured social relationships; however, there is limited empirical evidence to explicate the factors that contribute to these outcomes. Conclusion In recognition of the importance of peer support for new parents, the not-for-profit sector has been involved in providing volunteer home visiting services to families for decades. However, the body of research to support this work is characterised by methodological limitations, and rigorous evidence is limited. What is clear anecdotally and qualitatively from the existing research is that parents who are in need of additional support value engagement with a community volunteer. These structured social relationships appear to fulfil a service need within the community, helping build bridges to support social networks, and thus complementing professional services and relationships. Overall, structured social relationships in the form of volunteer home visiting programs appear to provide an important pathway to support family health and well being. Findings from the existing research are mixed and often characterised by methodological limitations, pointing to a need for further rigorous research. What is known about the topic? Volunteer family support programs have been an important part of the service landscape for vulnerable families, both nationally and internationally, for many years. Anecdotal reports suggest that this is a valued form of support that increases a sense of community connectedness and breaks down barriers for families in accessing other community support services. What does this paper add? This paper proposes a model identifying broad service pathways impacting on family health and well being that takes into account the importance of structured social relationships and social connectedness. What are the implications for practitioners? The proposed model may encourage discussion by practitioners and organisations interested in models of support for families who are socially isolated and/or in need of assistance to access and engage with services within the community.

scholarly journals The Impact on Child Developmental Status at 12 Months of Volunteer Home-Visiting Support

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Infant Development ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Home Visitors ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
Volunteer Support ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Home-visiting support during pregnancy or soon after the birth of an infant can be advantageous for maternal well-being and infant development. The best results have been identified when home visitors are professionals, especially nurses, and if a theoretically driven curriculum is followed with fidelity. Some suggest that disadvantaged families, who may avoid professional services, respond well to support from community volunteers, but there is less evidence about their impact. This study identified potentially vulnerable mothers during pregnancy in randomly allocated neighbourhoods where local volunteer home-visiting schemes agreed to offer proactive volunteer support and control areas where the local home-visiting schemes did not offer this proactive service. Taking demographic, child, and family factors into account, there were no significant differences in infant cognitive development at 12 months of age between families who had been supported by a volunteer and those who had not. Better cognitive development was predicted by less reported parenting stress when infants were 2 months and a more stimulating and responsive home environment at 12 months. The results suggest that unstructured proactive volunteer support for potentially vulnerable families is not likely to enhance infant development. Limitations of the cluster-randomised design are discussed.

Rescission or Variation of Children's Court Orders: A Study of Section 90 Applications in New South Wales

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Hansen
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Parental Responsibility ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Court Orders ◽  
Children's Court ◽  
Children’S Court

This article reports on a study of Children's Court files relating to completed applications for variation of care orders (section 90 applications) in three specialised Children's Courts in New South Wales. All files that could be located for completed applications were reviewed and nonidentifying data was recorded. The study attempted to examine the type of applications, the characteristics of applicants and the outcomes of the applications. One hundred and seventeen applications were reviewed: almost half of these were made by the then Department of Community Services (DoCS), and about the same proportion of applications were made by parents. After the section 90 applications were determined there was an increase in care orders allocating parental responsibility to the Minister for Community Services with 73% of the children placed under the care of the minister to age 18.

scholarly journals Infant Mother’s Experiences with the Sustained Nurse Home-Visiting Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Kyung Ja June ◽  
Ji Yun Lee ◽  
Sung-Hyun Cho
Keyword(s):  
Home Visiting ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Community Resources ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Nurse Home ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Nursing Services ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
Nurse Home Visiting ◽  
Home Visiting Program

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of mothers of infants who received sustained nurse home visiting services. The program of sustained home visit by nurses (Seoul Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program) is an intervention program. Its effectiveness has been verified in Australia, where services are provided to families in a vulnerable families during the period from prenatal period until the newborn is 2 years old.Methods: The study protocol used qualitative approaches. Eleven mothers of infants who received nursing services in December 2015 were invited for an in-depth interview. The data collected were subjected to directed content analysis.Results: The following 4 themes were identified from the analysis: (1) reduction in suspicion and increased feeling of benefit from the visiting service, (2) emotional support to the parents and use of community resources, (3) reliance on friendly nurses, and (4) gaining confidence about parenting and motherhood.Conclusion: Sustained nursing home visiting services can be applied effectively in South Korea. The concrete narrations and descriptions of the experiences of mothers in this study can be used as a base for education, practice, and research.

Family-Centered, Community-Based, Coordinated Care for Children With Special Needs

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 1061-1061
Author(s):  
RICHARD M. NARKEWICZ
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
Case Manager ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Coordinated Care ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Care Coordinator ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Centered

Assuring that all children with special health care needs have access to family-centered, community-based, coordinated care, as described by Brewer et al in this issue of Pediatrics, is a timely and commendable goal that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) shares. Pediatricians have a major role to play in the shaping of these services and assuring their accessibility by the children who need them. Last winter, the AAP held three task force meetings to discuss the role of pediatricians vis-á-vis the case manager/care coordinator. A consensus emerged from these meetings that a variety of roles should be available to pediatricians, depending upon the child's diagnosis, the pediatrician's training and interest, the skills of the family, and the community services available.

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