- | Brief
This brief describes the research base around innovative, efficient, and cost-effective approaches that Texas could implement to expand HV and help more families thrive. The innovations described below align with the Texas Department of Protection and Early Intervention’s (PEI) goals to increase funding for prevention services, enhance program implementation, integrate community-level resources, rely on research, and incorporate a public health framework. (author summary)
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Provides information about the specific self-care strategy of Pause-Reset-Nourish, or PRN. This fact sheet acknowledges the levels of stress that professionals may be currently experiencing and offers a way to address unwanted symptoms and promote and replenish wellbeing and enhance resilience. (author summary)
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In this brief, we use data collected in spring 2018 from a nationally representative sample to describe Early Head Start teachers’ and home visitors’ characteristics, the program activities (or processes) they are part of, and how well their programs operate (or function). We also examine how staff-specific program processes and program functioning are associated with job satisfaction for teachers and home visitors. (author summary)
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This brief summarizes available research on trauma and home visiting to address why home visiting programs should implement a trauma-informed approach, what it means to implement a trauma-informed approach, how home visiting programs can implement a trauma-informed approach, and the implications for research and practice. (author summary)
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Many home visiting programs lack the tools and knowledge to boost staff well-being, including an overarching definition and framework to guide their path. The Supporting and Strengthening the Home Visiting Workforce project seeks to understand professional well-being in the home visiting context: how it should be defined, measured, and bolstered to improve program and family outcomes. This brief offers concrete ways for home visiting programs, models, and local agencies to measure and strengthen professional well-being. It focuses on five key drivers theorized to influence home visitor job satisfaction, psychological well-being, job meaning and fulfillment, and self-efficacy and confidence. It builds on findings from a research report and conceptual model previously released by OPRE. (author summary)
- | Planning Tool
Adapting a framework from SAMHSA and the Annapolis Coalition for Behavioral Health Workforce Development, the Children and Youth Committee has focused a set of recommendations to enhance the mental health (and co-occurring) workforce serving children and families in Wisconsin. These recommendations are intended to guide policy decisions and advocacy for workforce development. They are aligned with best practice approaches of other state and federal initiatives, and promising initiatives within the state of Wisconsin. (author summary)
- | Article
The current, unprecedented scaling up of evidence-based home visiting makes it crucial to elucidate the factors and processes that promote successful program implementation. One key factor is the well-being of the workforce. Scant attention has been paid to the ways in which early childhood home visitors may be affected by their work with low-income, high-risk families, however. This mixed methods study examined Early Head Start(EHS) home visitors’ compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and job withdrawal, and their associations with home visitor, family, and work characteristics. Data included survey questionnaires (N = 77) and individual interviews (n = 7). A subset of home visitor survey data (n = 27) was linked with data from EHS families (N = 102) to examine the associations between home visitors’ well-being and EHS families’ psychosocial risks. Overall, EHS home visitors demonstrated moderate to high compassion satisfaction and more variable levels of secondary traumatic stress. The home visitors’ occupational stress and well-being were associated with home visitor, family, and work characteristics. For example, home visitors’ secondary traumatic stress was associated with EHS families’ psychosocial risks. Home visitors’ burnout was associated with job withdrawal. Both quantitative and qualitative data showed that home visitors were exposed to varying levels of EHS family risk and trauma, and that some home visitors were deeply affected by this exposure. (author abstract)
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Background – The Florida Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program delivers evidence-based home visiting services to over 1400 families each year. Home visitors are integral in providing resources for families to promote healthy pregnancy, child development, family wellness, and self-sufficiency. Due to the nature of this work, home visitors experience work-related pressures and stressors that can impact staff well-being and retention. Objectives – The purpose of this study was to understand primary sources of work-related stress experienced by home visitors, subsequent effects on their engagement with program participants, and to learn of coping mechanisms used to manage stress. Methods – In 2015, Florida MIECHV program evaluators conducted ten focus groups with 49 home visitors during which they ranked and discussed their top sources of work-related stress. Qualitative analysis was conducted to identify emergent themes in work-related stressors and coping/supports. Results – Across all sites, the burden of paperwork and data entry were the highest ranked work-related stressors perceived as interfering with home visitors’ engagement with participants. The second-highest ranked stressors included caseload management, followed by a lack of resources for families, and dangerous environments. Home visitors reported gratification in their relationships helping families, and relied on coworkers or supervisors as primary sources of workplace support along with self-care (e.g. mini-vacations, recreation, and counseling). Conclusions for practice – Florida MIECHV home visitors across all ten focus groups shared similar work-related stressors that they felt diminished engagement with program participants and could impact participant and staff retention. In response, Florida MIECHV increased resources to support home visitor compensation and reduce caseloads, and obtained a competitive award from HRSA to implement a mindfulness-based stress reduction training statewide. (author abstract)
- | Brief
As a part of the Region X Innovation grant, this study seeks to identify the current strengths, gaps, and unmet needs in the home visitor workforce in Region X. In particular, it has been designed to help inform workforce recruitment, retention, and professional development needs to help ensure the well-being and effectiveness of home visitors in the region. (author summary)
- | Guide
This handbook provides detailed guidance, tools and strategies, and references related to reflective supervision for West Virginia Supervisors.