Structured social relationships: a review of volunteer home visiting programs for parents of young children

Abstract

Objective The aims of the present paper were to: (1) review the research literature that contributes to an understanding of the role of volunteer home visiting programs in supporting the health and well being of families with young children; and (2) propose a conceptual model outlining service pathways for families in need of additional support. Methods An integrative literature review method was used, with a mix of electronic and manual search methods for the period January 1980-January 2014. Forty-five studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria for review and were coded according to themes developed a priori. Results There is little formal research that has examined the effectiveness of volunteer home visiting programs for supporting family health and well being. The available research suggests that volunteer home visiting programs provide socioemotional support through structured social relationships; however, there is limited empirical evidence to explicate the factors that contribute to these outcomes. Conclusion In recognition of the importance of peer support for new parents, the not-for-profit sector has been involved in providing volunteer home visiting services to families for decades. However, the body of research to support this work is characterised by methodological limitations, and rigorous evidence is limited. What is clear anecdotally and qualitatively from the existing research is that parents who are in need of additional support value engagement with a community volunteer. These structured social relationships appear to fulfil a service need within the community, helping build bridges to support social networks, and thus complementing professional services and relationships. Overall, structured social relationships in the form of volunteer home visiting programs appear to provide an important pathway to support family health and well being. Findings from the existing research are mixed and often characterised by methodological limitations, pointing to a need for further rigorous research. What is known about the topic? Volunteer family support programs have been an important part of the service landscape for vulnerable families, both nationally and internationally, for many years. Anecdotal reports suggest that this is a valued form of support that increases a sense of community connectedness and breaks down barriers for families in accessing other community support services. What does this paper add? This paper proposes a model identifying broad service pathways impacting on family health and well being that takes into account the importance of structured social relationships and social connectedness. What are the implications for practitioners? The proposed model may encourage discussion by practitioners and organisations interested in models of support for families who are socially isolated and/or in need of assistance to access and engage with services within the community.

The role of formal support in the lives of children of mothers with intellectual disability

“…In Australia, formal support for families typically includes universal services like maternal health visiting, and targeted services for vulnerable families such as specialist parenting programmes (Attree, ). Byrne, Grace, Tredoux, and Kemp () argued that social services and the “structured social relationships” they provide can be particularly important to meeting the support needs of vulnerable and isolated families, who are often hard to reach, by acting as a bridge to other social services and community networks.…”

Predictors of Self‐reported Gains in a Relationship‐based Home‐visiting Project for Mothers After Childbirth

“…For these parents, regular home visits by a (paid or volunteer) community‐based mother (a “peer”) could be beneficial. According to recent meta‐analyses, regular home visits by peers can help improve mothers’ emotional well‐being and self‐esteem, maternal competence, family functioning, the parent–child relationship, and problem solving (see Byrne, Grace, Tredoux, & Kemp, ). Peer support also can reduce the risk of accidents in the home and can be a good source of health information.…”

“…Peer support also can reduce the risk of accidents in the home and can be a good source of health information. However, peer‐based HV projects are not uniformly advantageous (Byrne et al., ; Leger & Letourneau, ). Accounting for variations in their efficacy is a worthy research goal because peer‐support, if effective, could be a low‐cost alternative to HV by paid professionals in communities without significant financial resources for such projects.…”

Community Volunteer Support for Families With Young Children: Protocol for the Volunteer Family Connect Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…Volunteer home visiting programs can take different forms, with many seeking to support families by helping them strengthen their social and community networks, providing families with connections to appropriate local health, welfare and education services and support information [1].…”

“…Factors across contextual layers accumulate to increase a child's or a parent's resilience or risk factors. This requires the development of social infrastructure to support the growth of inclusion networks and opportunities for meaningful civic participation [1].While previous research has demonstrated that a sense of belonging and inclusion in the local community context is fundamental to health and well-being [5,6], there are increasing reports of isolation, segregation and non-participation in response to changing community environments [7]. A sense of isolation is particularly evident in research examining the social inclusion of families in need of additional support, such as new arrivals There is an argument for volunteer home visiting having a unique and necessary place on the landscape of services available to families because: (i) it fills a service gap for families whose circumstances do not meet the eligibility criteria for targeted and/or sustained professional home visiting services and yet they need more support than is available from universal primary health and community services; and (ii) it is designed to break down potential barriers to service access, such as language, transport or cultural barriers.…”