Nurse home visiting: Perspectives from nurses

Abstract

Nurses working in the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program provide intensive home-visitation services for first-time, low-income mothers. The goals are to improve maternal health outcomes, child health and development outcomes, and to enhance maternal life-course development; however, many of the families face significant psychosocial and mental health issues that can impede progress achieving their goals. Because of the importance of the nurse-client relationship in achieving positive outcomes, these non-mental-health nurses must shift their approaches and techniques from a medical to a psychosocial model. In this article, we examine the role of the nurse in the NFP and present results of focus groups with experienced NFP nurses regarding their perspectives, challenges, and rewards in conducting this work.

Nurse perceptions of family home‐visiting programmes in Australia and England

“…Indeed, as noted by Zeanah et al, 7 although the quality of therapeutic alliances has the potential to significantly influence the outcomes of community-based interventions, outside mental health settings there is little information about how they are formed and maintained, and the mechanisms by which they influence outcomes. For example, in the area of nurse home-visiting, although most programs are initiated during the antenatal period, there is little information about the impact on nurse-mother relationships of initiating home-visiting during the ante-natal versus the post-natal period.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Despite the key role played by nurses delivering home-visiting programs, there is little empirical evidence describing the views and experiences of nurses who deliver them. 6,7 This is an important omission because several qualitative studies have highlighted the importance of nurse-mother relationships for the successful implementation of homevisiting programs. 8 For example, an early study De La Cuesta 9 reported that home visitors in England (n=21) identified the quality of nurse-mother relationships as a key factor determining the extent to which nurses are able to have ongoing access to family homes and the willingness of parents to volunteer information and share private matters.…”

Meaning of Home Visits to Brazilian Health Students

“…Home visits are a way to strengthen the students' communication and professional skills. [5][6][7][8] Several universities in Brazil have developed professional skills by means of home visits in order to contribute to the consolidation of the National Health System. The Health System increasingly requires professionals being able to understand individual and family needs and is capable of investing in health promotion in a unique, comprehensive and multidisciplinary manner.…”

Pathways to Resilience: Enhancing Family Well-Being with a Home Visitation Model

“…A second important premise underlying program intervention focuses on the therapeutic aspect of didactic relationship that is developed in-home visitation. Numerous researchers point that the relationship between the home visitor and the mother serves as a "parallel process" to help the mother interact better with her infant (Ammaniti, et al 2006;Lyons-Ruth, et al 1990;Olds, et al 1997;Sadler, Slade, & Mayers, 2006;Stern, 2006;Zeanah, et al 2006).…”