Transitioning to virtual interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on the family connects postpartum home visiting program activity.
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2022-01-08
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In this paper, we analyze program activity for Family Connects (FC), an evidence-based postpartum home-visiting intervention, during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic began, FC transitioned to a virtual protocol which maintains key psychosocial components of the in-person protocol and adjusts health assessments to address the lack of in-person contact. Program performance is contrasted for periods before the pandemic onset (April 2019-March 2020) and after the onset (April 2020-March 2021), involving 10,280 scheduled visits and 6696 visited families (46% non-Hispanic white; 20% non-Hispanic Black; 23% Hispanic; and 10% other race). Post-pandemic onset, FC program participation rates were at 89.8% of pre-pandemic levels. Home visitors observed post-onset increases in families' concerns about home safety but declines in families' needs related to infant care. Community connections were facilitated for 42.9% of visited families post-pandemic onset compared to 51.1% pre-pandemic onset. We conclude that post-pandemic onset virtual delivery rates of FC declined but are high enough to merit continued implementation during a period when some families will decline in-person visits. When in-person visits are deemed safe per public health guidelines, the findings suggest a hybrid approach that could maximize program outreach by prioritizing in-person contact and offering virtual delivery as a second choice.
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Rybińska, Anna, Debra L Best, W Benjamin Goodman, Yu Bai and Kenneth A Dodge (2022). Transitioning to virtual interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on the family connects postpartum home visiting program activity. Infant mental health journal, 43(1). pp. 159–172. 10.1002/imhj.21953 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25478.
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Scholars@Duke

Debra Lynn Best
The tenets of advocacy have been intentionally woven into my work in all domains from clinical service to education to scholarship. Defined broadly by Earnest, et.al., advocacy is “activity that promotes the social, economic, educational, and political changes that ameliorate threats to human health and advance the well-being of people”. Under that umbrella, the foci that I have pursued through the years have been varied, ranging from childhood obesity prevention to teen parenting to universal newborn home visiting. Currently, my area of focus is in supporting early relational health and social emotional development. Throughout each endeavor, I have focused on lifting the voices of those in marginalized populations and intentionally partnering with the community to provide holistic approaches to meet both medical and psychosocial needs of individuals.

Ben Goodman
Ben Goodman is a research scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy. His research interests focus broadly on the implementation and evaluation of population-based interventions to reduce child maltreatment and improve parent and child health and well-being, including the evidence-based Family Connects postpartum nurse home visiting program. His research also examines how sources of stress and support shape the quality of parent-child relationships, parents’ own well- being, and child development.
Research Interests:- Home Visiting
- Child Maltreatment
- Parenting
- Program Evaluation
- Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University - 2009

Yu Bai
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