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Home-visiting Programs (home-visiting + program)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences60%

Selected Abstracts

Promoting Infant Health Through Home Visiting By a Nurse-Managed Community Worker Team

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2001
Cynthia Barnes-Boyd R.N., Ph.D.
This article describes the Resources, Education and Care in the Home program (REACH-Futures), an infant mortality reduction initiative in the inner city of Chicago built on the World Health Organization (WHO) primary health care model and over a decade of experience administering programs to reduce infant mortality through home visits. The program uses a nurse-managed team, which includes community residents selected, trained, and integrated as health advocates. Service participants were predominately African American families. All participants were low-income and resided in inner-city neighborhoods with high unemployment, high teen birth rates, violent crime, and deteriorated neighborhoods. Outcomes for the first 666 participants are compared to a previous home-visiting program that used only nurses. Participant retention rates were equivalent overall and significantly higher in the first months of the REACH-Futures program. There were two infant deaths during the course of the study, a lower death rate than the previous program or the city. Infant health problems and developmental levels were equivalent to the prior program and significantly more infants were fully immunized at 12 months. The authors conclude that the use of community workers as a part of the home-visiting team is as effective as the nurse-only team in meeting the needs of families at high risk of poor infant outcomes. This approach is of national interest because of its potential to achieve the desired outcomes in a cost-effective manner. [source]

The clinical relevance of infancy: A progress report

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008
Daniel Stern
In the past few decades, findings from infant observations have played a key role in the following selected areas: (a) The emphasis now is on interpersonal and intersubjective processes rather than on intrapsychic processes. This is a paradigm shift towards a two-person psychology. (b) The elaboration of the attachment domain has reoriented our views of development and treatment. (c) The success of extended home-visiting programs as a preventive measure for parents and infants at risk has brought an agonizing reappraisal of what makes prevention (and therapy) work. (d) By default, the baby's world is nonverbal. This has led to a productive reexploration of unconsciousness, especially the domain of implicit knowledge. For the future, the following are some of the areas of great promise: (a) Attachment, love and "holding" must be disentangled. (b) We must study how and when the mirror neuron system gets micro- and macroregulated. One is not always open to empathic reception. (c) The articulation between the nonverbal (implicit) with the verbal (explicit) needs far more study. (d) The nonspecific factors of psychotherapy seem to be the most important in bringing about change and prevention. We need a greater systematic study of the nonspecific. (e) The triad and quartet, and so on need further exploration. (f) There are many more, but the beauty of research is that you can't know where it will go next. [source]

The process and promise of mental health augmentation of nurse home-visiting programs: Data from the Louisiana Nurse,Family Partnership

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006
Neil W. Boris
The Nurse,Family Partnership (NFP) model is a well-studied and effective preventive intervention program targeting first-time, impoverished mothers and their families. Data documenting the negative impact of maternal depression and partner violence on the developing young child can be used to make a strong case for augmenting NFP programs to focus on mental health problems impacting the mother,child relationship. This article reviews the rationale for and process of augmenting an NFP program in Louisiana. Data on the prevalence of depression and partner violence in our sample are presented alongside a training protocol for nurses and mental health consultants designed to increase the focus on infant mental health. The use of a weekly case conference and telephone supervision of mental health consultants as well as reflections on the roles of the mental health consultant and the nurse supervisor are presented. [source]

Pregnant with possibilities: drawing on hermeneutic thought to reframe home-visiting programs for young mothers

NURSING INQUIRY, Issue 3 2009
Lee SmithBattleArticle first published online: 11 AUG 200
Although the positive outcomes achieved in home-visiting interventions targeting young, disadvantaged mothers are partly credited to therapeutic relationships, researchers rarely offer philosophical or theoretical explanations for these relationships. This omission is a conspicuous oversight as nurse,family relationships have figured prominently in public health nursing practice since its inception. In this study, I suggest that the contribution of therapeutic relationships to positive outcomes will remain theoretically undeveloped as long as clinical trials and nursing practice models follow the logic of techne. After describing how a scientific,clinical gaze misrepresents teen mothers and contributes to a rational,technical model of clinical practice, I draw on contemporary hermeneutics to describe how dialog and understanding are indispensable for clinical judgment and the judicious use of scientific knowledge. This hermeneutic corrective calls attention to the dialogical nature of truth and the relational skills that disclose meaning, preserve personhood, and support possibilities available in the life-world. Dialogical understanding also disrupts the scientific,clinical gaze by disclosing the social disparities that are implicated in early childbearing and teen mothers' long-term prospects. The implications of this thought for legitimating and supporting the flexibility and clinical know-how that ,strays' from protocol-driven care is addressed. [source]

Postnatal home visiting for illicit drug-using mothers and their infants: A randomised controlled trial

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 5 2006
Anne BARTU
Abstract Background:, Postnatal home-visiting programs for illicit drug-using mothers have reported some success in reducing harms in some areas but there is a lack of data on their impact on breastfeeding and immunisation rates. Aims:, To investigate the effect on breastfeeding, immunisation and parental drug use. The hypothesis was that the outcomes of the home-visiting group (HVG) would be superior to the control group (CG). Method:, One hundred and fifty-two illicit drug-using women were recruited at 35,40 weeks gestation from King Edward Memorial Hospital, Perth, Western Australia and randomised after delivery to the HVG or the CG. The HVG had eight home visits; the CG had telephone contact at two months and a home visit at six months. The HVG received education and support for parenting, breastfeeding and child development. This was not provided by the research midwives for the CG. Results:, The main drugs were heroin, amphetamines, cannabis and benzodiazepines. Immunisation rates were similar for each group. Median duration of breastfeeding for the HVG was eight weeks (95% CI, 3.8,12.2); for the CG ten weeks (95% CI, 7.3,12.7). Drug use was reduced during pregnancy but increased by six months post-partum in both groups. The retention rates were: HVG 93%; CG 86%. Conclusion:, The hypothesis for this study was not supported. Long-term studies are urgently required to assess the effects of parental drug use on infant and child development. [source]