Related Experiment Videos
Implementing nurse home visitation programs
1Baylor University School of Nursing, Waco, TX 76798-7333, USA. Carole_Hanks@Baylor.edu
Public Health Nursing (Boston, Mass.)
|September 28, 1999
Summary
Nurse home visitation programs improve health for low-income families. Even nurses new to home visiting can succeed by adapting strategies to family needs and resource limits, demonstrating program effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Services Research
- Nursing Practice
Background:
- Nurse home visitation is a long-standing public health intervention.
- Recent trials confirm its cost-effectiveness and policy relevance for low-income families.
- Large-scale reimplementation requires nurses with limited prior home-visiting experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how to effectively implement large-scale nurse home visitation programs.
- To understand how nurses with limited experience adapt to new roles and challenges.
- To identify factors supporting successful program implementation in a health department setting.
Main Methods:
- Case study analysis of observational and interview data.
- Examined a large demonstration home visitation program (1989-1994).
- Utilized the bottom-up implementation perspective of Hanf and Toonen (1983).
Main Results:
- Nurses with limited community experience developed effective strategies for diverse family needs.
- Nurses successfully navigated resource constraints and existing service systems.
- Nurses established a supportive organizational culture and job structure within a health department.
Conclusions:
- A bottom-up approach is effective for implementing nurse home visitation programs.
- Nurses can adapt and succeed in home-visiting roles with appropriate support and autonomy.
- Successful implementation enhances health outcomes for vulnerable families.