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

Abstract #117144

Darlene Shearer, DrPH, The Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, University of South Florida, 3111 East Fletcher Avenue, Tampa, FL 33613-4660, (813) 974-8325, dshearer@hsc.usf.edu and Janis A. Prince, PhD, MMFT, Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33612-3805.

Family support workers and other paraprofessionals have unique skills that are immensely valuable to enhance interactions between home visiting staff and targeted program populations. Because these workers are on the front lines of maternal and child health services and in the homes of families they serve, the information and interventions they provide are closely linked to successful health outcomes. The manner in which many of these workers are trained is not uniform and often not evaluated. The Maternal and Child Services Workforce Development Program (MCSWD) developed a 21 credit hour training model and program to build upon existing skills of home visitors to increase capacity to reduce illness, injury and death among mothers and babies and to promote a healthy, productive lifestyle in childbearing families. The training is offered in 3 community colleges and course credits articulate toward an associate degree. The program evaluation has multiple levels – individual, agency, and client. One of the outcome measures is a case example in which students are asked to respond to a scenario in which a mother describes concerns about feeding, sleeping, and fussiness behavior of her young infant. The scenario is presented to students at 3 points – before beginning the 15 month MCH training program, mid-training prior to MCH-specific coursework, and post-training. A scoring methodology was developed to measure progress in students' critical thinking and ability to integrate information from several courses. The presenters will describe the training evaluation methodology and student outcomes and will discuss relevance of the findings.

Learning Objectives: