Reaching Isolated New Mothers: Insights from a Home Visiting Program Using Paraprofessionals

2007 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 616-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Paris ◽  
Meagan K. Gemborys ◽  
Peggy H. Kaufman ◽  
Debbie Whitehill
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
New Mothers ◽  
Home Based ◽  
New Mother ◽  
Relational Theories ◽  
Home Visiting Program

The Visiting Moms Program delivers a relationship-based home visiting intervention in which volunteers address challenges faced by at-risk new mothers and families. For new mothers experiencing isolation, anxiety about parenting, lack of support, or limited resources, this program offers a volunteer, who is a mother herself, in the role of a mentor mother to connect the new mother to resources, listen without judgment, and strengthen parenting abilities. Less stress for the mother and improved care for the infant are major program goals. Relational theories and studies on home visiting interventions are used as lenses for viewing this type of intervention. Vignettes are included to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms through which the new mothers change. Clinicians, program planners, and administrators are likely to find this article helpful in its coverage of the literature on volunteers and home-based services, its description of the relational intervention provided by one home visiting program using volunteers, and its recommendations for ways in which others can design such programs.

scholarly journals Is the Families First Home Visiting Program Effective in Reducing Child Maltreatment and Improving Child Development?

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariette J. Chartier ◽  
Marni D. Brownell ◽  
Michael R. Isaac ◽  
Dan Chateau ◽  
Nathan C. Nickel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Child Development ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Adjusted Risk ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Home Visiting Program ◽  
Families First

While home visiting programs are among the most widespread interventions to support at-risk families, there is a paucity of research investigating these programs under real-world conditions. The effectiveness of Families First home visiting (FFHV) was examined for decreasing rates of being in care of child welfare, decreasing hospitalizations for maltreatment-related injuries, and improving child development at school entry. Data for 4,562 children from home visiting and 5,184 comparison children were linked to deidentified administrative health, social services, and education data. FFHV was associated with lower rates of being in care by child’s first, second, and third birthday (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] = 0.75, 0.79, and 0.81, respectively) and lower rates of hospitalization for maltreatment-related injuries by third birthday (aRR = 0.59). No differences were found in child development at kindergarten. FFHV should be offered to at-risk families to decrease child maltreatment. Program enhancements are required to improve child development at school entry.

Outcomes of the Montana Asthma Home Visiting Program: A home-based asthma education program

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie C. Fernandes ◽  
William W. Biskupiak ◽  
Sarah M. Brokaw ◽  
Dorota Carpenedo ◽  
Katie M. Loveland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Education Program ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Asthma Education ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Home Visiting Program

Are We Serving the Most At-Risk Communities? Examining the Reach of a South Carolina Home Visiting Program

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 764-771
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Radcliff ◽  
Charity B. Breneman ◽  
Elizabeth Crouch ◽  
Icelynn Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Home Visiting Program ◽  
Risk Communities

A Home Visit Program for Capd

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 475-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Warmington
Keyword(s):  
Peritoneal Dialysis ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Care Plan ◽  
Practical Nursing ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Hospital Resources ◽  
Home Visiting Program ◽  
Fundamental Shift

In the U.K. in the last five years a reassessment of the central role of the hospital has taken place, with a fundamental shift in care for people with increased dependencies to community settings. For patients using peritoneal dialysis a need has been realized for a home-visiting service by specialist renal nurses who can manage and coordinate the program of care, thus reducing the strain on hospital resources. In addition, the provision of a community nurse to visit the patient at home means that ongoing education and training can be undertaken in a suitable learning environment. The home-visiting program creates an opportunity to develop an holistic care plan using strategies of general health promotion as well as practical nursing care. This paper highlights the experiences of a pioneering model of community continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis care in South London. Auditing of this unusually funded post has shown significant reductions in peritonitis, exit-site infections, and hospital admissions In this growing patient population.

Evaluating a Statewide Home Visiting Program to Prevent Child Abuse in at-Risk Families of Newborns: Fathers’ Participation and Outcomes

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Duggan ◽  
Loretta Fuddy ◽  
Elizabeth McFarlane ◽  
Lori Burrell ◽  
Amy Windham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Home Visiting ◽  
Home Visiting Program ◽  
Prevent Child Abuse

“She's just like me”: The Role of the Mentor with Vulnerable Mothers and their Infants

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaye Mitchell ◽  
Deborah Absler ◽  
Cathy Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Home Visiting ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Professional Role ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Pilot Program ◽  
New Mothers ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Service Intervention ◽  
Socially Isolated

Mentoring Mums, a community-based pilot program, exemplifies a model of volunteer home visiting to vulnerable and socially isolated new mothers and their at-risk infants. An evaluation of the program found that positive changes for both mothers and their babies had been achieved, providing the rationale for exploration of elements that made the mentoring role effective. This article undertakes this exploration through the research question: What do mothers, mentors and workers contribute to the conceptualisation of the mentor role with vulnerable mothers and their infants? The article argues that the program's effectiveness resided in a mentor role that shared primary values of befriending and neighbourliness, rather than in mentors enacting a quasi-professional role. Conceptualisation of the mentor role is based in theory and practice, seeing mentors as straddling the formal world of service intervention and the informal world of kith and kin. It presents ‘befriending’ as part of building substitute networks around very isolated new mothers. The very significant problems experienced by these vulnerable mothers made necessary parallel involvement of a professional volunteer coordinator and ongoing case management. Mentoring did not replace professional involvement, but rather was distinguished as providing something different, but much needed for vulnerable new mothers and their babies.

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