Home Visiting Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Program Activity Analysis for Family Connects.
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2022-01-10
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Early reports highlighted challenges in delivering home visiting programs virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic but the extent of the changes in program implementation and their implications remains unknown. We examine program activity and families' perceptions of virtual home visiting during the first nine months of the pandemic using implementation data for Family Connects (FC), an evidence-based and MIECHV-eligible, postpartum nurse home visiting program.Description
Aggregate program implementation data for five FC sites for January-November of 2019 and 2020 are compared. The COVID-19 Modification Survey is used to analyze families' reactions to virtual program delivery.Assessment
Post-pandemic onset, FC's program completion rates amounted to 86% of the pre-pandemic activity level. Activity in key components of the intervention-home-visitor education and referrals to community agencies-was maintained at 98% and 87% of the pre-pandemic level respectively. However, education and referrals rates declined among families of color and low-income families. Finally, families reported a positive response to the program, with declines in feelings of isolation and increases in positive attitudes toward in-person medical care-seeking due to FC visits.Conclusions
During the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic, families' interest in home visiting remained strong, performance metrics were maintained at high levels, and families responded positively to the virtual delivery of home visiting. Home visiting programs should continue implementation with virtual modifications during the remainder of the pandemic but attention is needed to address growing disparities in access to home visiting benefits among marginalized communities.Type
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RybiĆska, Anna, Debra L Best, W Benjamin Goodman, Winona Weindling and Kenneth A Dodge (2022). Home Visiting Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Program Activity Analysis for Family Connects. Maternal and child health journal, 26(1). pp. 70â78. 10.1007/s10995-021-03337-7 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25476.
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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 âactivity that promotes the social, economic, educational, and political changes that ameliorate threats to human health and advance the well-being of peopleâ. 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, parentsâ own well- being, and child development.
Research Interests:- Home Visiting
- Child Maltreatment
- Parenting
- Program Evaluation
- Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University - 2009
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