title: Health home visiting for vulnerable families: what has occurred and what is yet to arrive?
abstract: Sustained health home visiting (SHHV) is a valuable means of implementing early intervention for vulnerable families with infants or young children. This first of a two-part report describes clients and identifies nurses' activities with or on behalf of clients as part of a pilot SHHV program undertaken within a socioeconomically disadvantaged suburban area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A forthcoming report describes the results of the intervention. Child and family health nurses visited vulnerable clients who were pregnant and/or had an infant aged 36 months or younger. Interventions consisted of direct and indirect (i.e. services involving a third party) client contact. Nurses documented all activities undertaken with or on behalf of clients using pre-determined codes. Over 29 months, the program accepted 136 referrals and 118 (87%) consented to the evaluation. Families had a mean of eight risk factors, which commonly included current mental health symptoms or disorders (49%), a history or current experience of domestic violence (51%) and being known to the Department of Community Services (40%). Nurses' most frequent interventions addressed the main carer's emotional and health needs, and infant development. Clients' level of need required coordinated care from a specialised multidisciplinary team, which was unavailable to program clients and their families.
authors.affiliation: Health Reform Transitional Office Western, Cumberland Hospital Campus, Parramatta BC, NSW 2124, Australia. joanne.stubbs@wsahs.nsw.gov.au
authors.forename: Joanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Stubbs
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Achat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009517:New South Wales; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011247:Pregnancy; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D055815:Young Adult