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The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program supports the Mississippi Home Visiting Program and provides voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services for expectant and new parents with children through kindergarten age living in communities that are at risk for poor maternal and child health outcomes.
High-quality home visiting services for infants and young children can advance school readiness, improve family relationships, improve maternal-infant health outcomes, and reduce child maltreatment and neglect. Establishing strong, effective relationships between home visitors and families in a home visiting program is a critical yet often challenging aspect of home visitation programs. These relationships directly influence both the quality of services delivered and the overall effectiveness of the program.
This qualitative study explores the perspectives of program leaders and home visitors involved in an evidence-based home visitation program. It specifically investigates the perceived benefits, challenges, and effective practices influencing relationship building. The researcher interviewed four program leaders and nine home visitors. The study examines participants’ beliefs concerning home visitor and parent relationship development, including challenges and effective practices. Five central themes emerged from participant interviews: (1) relationships grounded in trust and mutual respect, (2) cultural competency and cultural misinformation, (3) meeting families where they are, (4) resistance, and (5) effective curriculum and model choice. Findings from this study will be relevant to program leaders and administrators, home visitors, policy makers, families and caregivers.
