Title

Who Gets What? Describing the Non-Supervisory Training and Supports Received by Home Visiting Staff Members and its Relationship With Turnover

Date

2019

Author(s)

Wei-Bing Chen, Donna Spiker, Xin Wei, Erika Gaylor, Abby Schachner, and Laura Hudson

Brief Type

Journal Publication

Model(s)

  • Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)
  • Parents as Teachers (PAT)

Description

The early childhood home visiting field lacks a basic understanding of home visiting program staff members’ receipt of on-the-job training from experts outside of their programs who are not their immediate colleagues or supervisors. To address this gap, we created a unique dataset by asking program leaders to log the external technical assistance (TA) that staff members received, and we collected a survey from 288 of the same staff members. We performed descriptive analyses to learn how many hours of TA staff members were receiving, what topics the TA most commonly addressed, and what formats (e.g., in-person or virtual/remote, individual, or group) the TA was most commonly provided in. We then associated characteristics of the TA received with staff and program characteristics, as well as with staff members’ turnover. Multilevel analyses showed the TA supports that home visiting staff members received differed by role (home visitor or supervisor) and program characteristics, including home visiting model— Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) or Parents as Teachers (PAT)—program size, and maturity. About 23% of the home visiting staff members left their programs over the course of 18 months. PAT staff members were more likely to leave their programs than NFP staff members. We did not find that characteristics of TA received were predictive of staff members’ turnover. Implications and the need for further research are discussed. (author abstract)

Data Collection Methods

  • Program administrative record reviews
  • Surveys or questionnaires

Status

Finished

For More Information

Chen, W.-B., Spiker, D., Wei, X., Gaylor, E., Schachner, A., & Hudson, L. (2019). Who gets what? Describing the non‐supervisory training and supports received by home visiting staff members and its relationship with turnover. American Journal of Community Psychology, 63(3–4), 298–311. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12331
Author Contact Information:
Wei-Bing Chen
wei-bing.chen@sri.com

Topics

  • Home Visiting Workforce Characteristics and Workforce Development