Recorded presentation

David A. Jones, CSW¹, Maryam Navaie-Waliser, DrPH², Carmen Ayala, MSEd¹, and Laura Ensler, MSEd¹. (1) Early Steps Family Center, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, 86-01 Rockaway Beach Blvd, Far Rockaway, NY 11693, (2) Center for Home Care Policy and Research, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, 5 Penn Plaza, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10001, 212-609-5762, maryam.navaie@vnsny.org

Introduction: This presentation will outline successful strategies implemented by home visitors to interact with and engage fathers in literacy activities with their young children.

Methods: Fifty-one Early Head Start and community fathers participated in the Story Time Literacy Project in 2002-2003. Quantitative and qualitative data specific to sociodemographic characteristics, father participation rates, and interaction frequency and quality between fathers and their children and fathers and home visitors were gathered and analyzed.

Results: The majority of fathers were African-American (61%), had their high school diploma or equivalency (55%), were unmarried (86%), and were employed (67%). The average age among fathers was 26 years (ranging between 17 and 47 years). Strategic interventions found to be most successful for supporting interactions between home visitors and fathers were: (1) taking a dynamic, flexible and father-driven, rather than a static program-driven, case management approach to staff-client interactions, (2) providing reflective supervision supporting interactions through modeling and role play, and (3) assisting in developing skills that allow for thoughtful and open communication. Sustaining interactions with fathers required home visitors to: (1) find comfort in orchestrating thoughtful interactions while embracing complexity, and (2) understand clinical issues preventing fathers from having a corrective experience with their histories of not being fathered which correlated to demonstrations of ineffective communication, anger management and conflicts in their personal relationships.

Conclusions: Home visiting programs aiming to engage and sustain interactions with fathers to increase involvement with their children are more likely to succeed through effective planning, staff development and on-going supportive supervision.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, participants will be able to

• Recognize strategies essential to assist staff with planning successful interactions with fathers
• Understand how supportive supervision and modeling connects to improved interactions and services to meet the needs of the fathers
• Learn to evaluate successful and failed interactions which drive staff development topics
• Recognize the parallel process of development between staff and fathers resulting in successful interactions which sustain relationships connecting fathers to their families and home visiting programs

Keywords: Home Visiting, Head Start

Related Web page: www.vnsny.org/research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employer

Recorded presentation