Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #104440

Gayle P. Olsen, MS, C-PNP, Department of Nursing, Winona State University, Rochester Center, 859 30th Ave. SE, Rochester, MN 55904, 507-285-7168, golsen@winona.edu, Sharon J. Tucker, DNSc, RN, Division of Nursing Research, Mayo Clinic, 200 1st ST. SW, Rochester, MN 55905, and Richard D. Olsen, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Mayo Clinic, 200 1st St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905.

An innovative community partnership was developed to address gaps in early intervention services to high risk families with children aged 18 months to 5 years. Home visiting services were available for high risk families from pregnancy through target child's second birthday but were limited for families with children over age two, a particularly challenging time for families since disciplinary patterns are being established. In addition, limited mechanisms for coordinating care and expediting referrals were available. The partners included a baccalaureate nursing program, a county public health department, and a large private multi-specialty medical clinic. Senior nursing students, under the supervision of faculty and public health nurses, visited families on a regular basis for their entire senior year. Over a three year period, seventy eight families received at least one visit. Eligibility criteria included at least two of the following: low income, limited social support, mental illness, chemical dependency/abuse, developmental disability, less than high school education, history of abuse, or involvement with criminal system. 42% of families were ethnically diverse with 21% (n=16) non-English speaking requiring interpreter services. The partners shared a commitment to evidence-based best practices thus a standardized parent training program, with substantial evidence of effectiveness in improving parent-child interaction and preventing/treating behavior problems, was adapted for use during home visiting during the second and third year of the project. Family outcomes on a number of variables, including parental depression, parenting stress, child behavior problems (number and intensity) were evaluated. In the effort to translate research into practice, multiple challenges emerged including maintaining fidelity of the intervention and limited dosage of the intervention related to missed visits, language barriers and chaotic family lives. Missing data created problems with analysis, however, the total number of families that scored above cut-off scores went from 45% to 33% on the depression scale, 39% to 25% on the child-related stress scale, 56% to 16.6% on the child behavioral intensity scale and 25% to 4% on the child behavior problem scale. Strategies and challenges in translating best practices into clinical setting will be highlighted.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Describe an innovative community partnership to expand services for high risk families while providing an enhanced clinical experiences for baccalaureate nursing students.
• 2. Identify challenges in translating research into practice in the home visit setting.

Keywords: Evidence Based Practice, Home Visiting

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.