Army home visitors’ implementation of military family violence prevention programming in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

The Army New Parent Support Program (Army NPSP) provides home visitation services that promote positive parenting strategies and aims to prevent family violence for expectant military parents and military families with children from birth to age 3. Since the onset of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Army NPSP services have rapidly adapted to a telehealth model to fit with the suggested practices of physical distancing. Employing a grounded theory approach, nine virtual focus groups with 30 Army NPSP home visitors across eight installations were conducted to examine how this rapid shift has impacted their services, practice, and professional role. The present study identified two overarching themes: (1) working with families (e.g., continued engagement with families, increased communication, shifting family needs) and ( 2) adjusting to telework (e.g., technology, professional collaboration and communication, professional growth). Findings from these focus groups indicated that home visitors were actively engaged with their clients and experienced both challenges and benefits of telehealth. While the rapid transition was a big change, and home visitors missed the face-to-face interactions, they expressed that they were adapting and improving their virtual service delivery with time. Increased concerns regarding families' well-being due to social and physical isolation, increased symptoms of anxiety and depression, and grief for losses due to COVID-19, along with the ability to continue connections with these highly mobile families, points to the importance of telehealth as a means to implement parenting programs vital to military family well-being.

A systematic review and qualitative meta‐synthesis of the roles of home‐visiting nurses working with women experiencing family violence

“…Most studies articulated this advocacy role for nurses—listening, empowering and referring (Cox et al, 2001) and supporting women in navigating social service systems (Jack et al, 2012). Knowing local services and relationships with local service providers enabled advocacy and professional collaboration and communication (Abbott & Williamson, 1999; Dickson & Tutty, 1996; Evanson, 2006; Ferrara et al, 2021; Henderson, 2001; Webster et al, 2006).…”

“…Nurses sought and valued debriefing, making this a vital nursing role. Nurses needed to debrief their reactions to abuse situations and explore strategies to deal with them (Dickson & Tutty, 1996; Evanson, 2006; Webster et al, 2006) and would reach out to each other for professional support beyond purely social connections (Ferrara et al, 2021). Other studies described the practice of informal debriefing with colleagues to mitigate work‐related stress; however, for some, this represented a burden in itself (Dmytryshyn et al, 2015).…”

“…Knowing local services and relationships with local service providers enabled advocacy and professional collaboration and communication (Abbott & Williamson, 1999;Dickson & Tutty, 1996;Evanson, 2006;Ferrara et al, 2021;Henderson, 2001;Webster et al, 2006).…”