Reinventing the home visit for undergraduate nursing students

The Family Outreach Project was designed to teach senior-level undergraduate nursing students how to assess, care for, and develop care plans for children with chronic health conditions and their families. Nursing students (n=24) could attend one focus group conducted at the end of the semester as part of the evaluation of the America's Promise School Project. Responses were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative methods were used to identify themes. Comfort with the visit, professionalism of the students, and usefulness of the home visit to families was assessed. Analysis of focus group responses identified four major themes: learning experience, observations about home environment, concerns about having nothing to offer families, and difficulties with arranging and carrying out the home visits. Family responses (n=10) supported students' perception that families were knowledgeable about their children's chronic health conditions. Families indicated that students were professional and treated families respectfully.