Growing the evidence base for home visitor professional development: Research, systems, and current practices

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Abstract

Home visiting (HV) programs are experiencing growth in the U.S. and internationally. HV programs across a variety of models are effective in improving a range of child and family outcomes, although results are often modest and inconsistent. HV professionals work with pregnant women and families with young children to encourage positive parent-child interactions, child development, school readiness, family goal setting, and well-being. Home visitors have few pre-service training opportunities for their myriad roles and responsibilities, professional development (PD) is critical to evidence-based HV, but limited attention has been given to aligning evidence-based PD to HVs unique training needs.
In this Conversational Roundtable three related aspects of developing the workforce will be discussed:
• The distinction between coaching, training, and supervision.
• Inservice PD such as Communities of Practice.
• The role of higher education and professional organizations in preparing home visitors.
The impact of the limited research for each of these aspects will be discussed along with information on best practices in the HV field. How the field can develop evidence-based PD strategies in which home visitors readily engage and how to better understand the ways in which these strategies translate to practices used with families to move desired child and family outcomes will be discussed. The roundtable will discuss whether early childhood HV is its own disciplinary field (e.g., Chen, et al., 2019), given that individuals with varied degrees (early childhood, social work, nursing) are part of this workforce.
Moderator: Mark Innocenti, Panelists: Jon Korfmacher, Patti Manz, Bridget Walsh

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Moderator

• Mark S Innocenti, Utah State University

Panelists

• Patricia Manz, Lehigh University

• Jon Korfmacher, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

• Bridget A. Walsh, University of Nevada, Reno