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

Abstract #117930

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.

Many MCH programs that employ paraprofessionals or non-degreed staff as home visitors invest considerable resources to train their staff. The content and amount of training varies widely among service providers. In spite of this investment, service providers and home visitors have differing views regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of training. This presentation will describe evaluation findings and experiences of the Maternal and Child Services Workforce Development Program (MCSWFD), a 15 month, 21-credit-hour Applied Technical Diploma program designed to enable workers to earn credits toward an associate degree in a community college setting. One component of the MCSWFD program evaluation measured levels of confidence related to MCH-specific competencies. The confidence measure was given to workers in the training program at three points – before training, mid point, and post-training. As might be expected, the levels of confidence increased over time. Responses of students were also compared with those of a comparison group of non-participant workers with mixed results. Both the student group and comparison workers were rated by their supervisors using the same measures across time. Presenters will discuss the implications of the evaluation findings for traditional staff development practices in home visiting programs and propose ways in which training could be enhanced and more effective for non-degreed home visitor learners.

Learning Objectives: