ABSTRACT
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) aims to improve early childhood professionals' abilities to promote children's mental health through relationship building and collaboration. Using a longitudinal, matched-comparison group design, a 3-year pilot study of a cross-system, embedded model of IECMHC assessed teachers and home visitors in intervention and comparison programs in reflective capacity, burnout, and perceptions of children's behavior. A sample of 136 staff (n = 72 intervention group; n = 64 comparison group; 21% Black; 51% White; 28% Latina/Hispanic) participated in surveys over a 21-month implementation period. A subsample of staff (n = 26) participated in interviews that included a narrative measure of reflective capacity; and a smaller subsample of teachers only (n = 21) completed assessments of children. Staff in the intervention group significantly increased reflective capacity after 21 months. For the staff interview subsample, receiving the intervention predicted lower levels of burnout at 12-15 months post-baseline. Among teachers completing child assessments, those with higher reflective capacity rated children's behaviors more positively than teachers with lower reflective capacity. We conclude that this IECMHC model successfully improved reflective capacity in staff. Future research should investigate reflective capacity as a potential mechanism of change for IECMHC.
La Consulta de Salud Mental de la Infancia y la Temprana Niñez (IECMHC) se propone mejorar las habilidades de los profesionales de la temprana niñez para promover la salud mental de los niños por medio de establecer relaciones y de la colaboración. Usando un diseño longitudinal, de un grupo de comparación emparejado, un estudio experimental de tres años con un modelo incorporado de IECMHC a lo largo del sistema, evaluó a instructores y visitadores a casa en programas de intervención y comparación en cuanto a la capacidad de reflexión, el agotamiento, así como las percepciones del comportamiento de los niños. Un grupo muestra de 136 miembros del personal (n = 72 en el grupo de intervención; n = 64 en el grupo de comparación; 21% negros; 51% blancos; 28% hispano/latino) participó en entrevistas que incluían una medida narrativa de la capacidad de reflexión; y un más pequeño subgrupo muestra de instructores solamente (n = 21) completaron evaluaciones de los niños. Los miembros del personal en el grupo de intervención significativamente aumentaron la capacidad de reflexión después de 21 meses. Para la entrevista del personal en el subgrupo muestra, recibir la intervención predijo más bajos niveles de agotamiento a los 12 a 15 meses después del punto de partida. De los instructores que completaron las evaluaciones del niño, aquellos con más alta capacidad de reflexión evaluaron el comportamiento de los niños más positivamente que los instructores con una más baja capacidad de reflexión. Concluimos con que este modelo de IECMHC mejoré con éxito la capacidad de reflexión del personal. La investigación futura debe investigar la capacidad reflexión como un potencial mecanismo de cambio para IECMHC.
La consultation de Santé Mentale du Nourrisson et de la Petite Enfance (abrégé IECMHC en anglais) a pour but d'améliorer les compétences des professionnels de la petite enfance à promouvoir la santé mentale des enfants au travers de l'établissement de relations et de la collaboration. En utilisant une conception de groupe témoin apparié, longitudinale, une étude pilote de trois années d'un modèle inter-système et intégré de IECMHC a évalué des enseignants et des visiteurs à domicile dans des programmes d'intervention et de comparaison pour ce qui concerne la capacité de réflexion, le burnout et les perception du comportement des enfants. Un échantillon de 136 employés (n = 72 groupe d'intervention; n = 64 groupe de comparaison; 21% Noirs; 51% Blancs; 28% Hispaniques / Latinas) ont participé à des enquêtes sur une période de mise en place de 21 mois. Un sous-échantillon d'employés (n = 26) a participé à des entretiens qui ont inclus une mesure narrative de capacité de réflexion; et un plus petit sous-échantillon d'enseignants uniquement (n = 21) a rempli des évaluations des enfants. Les employés dans le groupe d'intervention ont fortement augmenté leur capacité de réflexion après 21 mois. Pour le sous-échantillon d'employés, le fait d'avoir reçu l'intervention a prédit des niveaux plus bas de burnout à 12-15 mois après référence. Des enseignants ayant rempli les évaluations des enfants, ceux avec la capacité de réflexion la plus élevées ont évalué les comportements des enfants de manière plus positive que les enseignants avec une capacité de réflexion moins élevée. Nous concluons que ce modèle IECMHC a amélioré avec succès la capacité de réflexion chez les employés. Des recherches futures devraient se pencher sur la capacité de réflexion comme mécanisme potentiel de changement pour l'IECMHC.
Subject(s)
Burnout, Professional , Mental Health , Infant , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Pilot Projects , Infant Health , Referral and Consultation , Child Health , Burnout, Professional/prevention & controlABSTRACT
Guided by an integrated theory of parent participation, this study examines the role community characteristics play in influencing a parent's decision to use voluntary child abuse prevention programs. Multiple regression techniques were used to determine if different community characteristics, such as neighborhood distress and the community's ratio of caregivers to those in need of care, predict service utilization levels in a widely available home visiting program. Our findings suggest that certain community characteristics are significant predictors of the extent to which families utilize voluntary family supports over and above the proportion of variance explained by personal characteristics and program experiences. Contrary to our initial assumptions, however, new parents living in the most disorganized communities received more home visits than program participants living in more organized communities. The article concludes with recommendations on how community capacity building might be used to improve participant retention.
Subject(s)
Child Abuse/prevention & control , Child Health Services/statistics & numerical data , Community Medicine/organization & administration , Family Health , Parent-Child Relations , Parenting , Program Evaluation , Child , Child Health Services/organization & administration , Child, Preschool , Cooperative Behavior , Female , Humans , Interprofessional Relations , Male , Models, Organizational , Residence Characteristics , Risk Factors , United StatesABSTRACT
Little is known as to why some parents choose to engage in voluntary home visitation services while others refuse or avoid services. To address this knowledge gap, this study tests several hypotheses about the factors that influence maternal intentions to engage in home visitation services and the link between these intentions and the receipt of a home visit. The sample consists of an ethnically diverse group of mothers identified as at-risk for parenting difficulties (N = 343). These mothers were offered home visitation services from nine home visiting programs located across six states. Regardless of service acceptance or refusal, all mothers were interviewed within 2 weeks of the service offer and 3 months later.The findings suggest that mothers who intend to use services look substantially different from those who do not state an intention to participate in home visitation. The results indicate that lower infant birth weight and greater comfort with a provider in one's home are significant predictors of maternal intentions to utilize home visiting services. The study results also support the connection between intent and behavior as the expressed intention to engage in home visitation services was a key predictor of the receipt of a visit.
