The Development and Evaluation of a Statewide Training Center for Home Visitors and Supervisors

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2019-03-09

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

David A. Schultz, Rebecca L. Schacht, et.al, The Development and Evaluation of a Statewide Training Center for Home Visitors and Supervisors, American Journal of Community Psychology, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12320

Rights

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This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: David A. Schultz, Rebecca L. Schacht, et.al, The Development and Evaluation of a Statewide Training Center for Home Visitors and Supervisors, American Journal of Community Psychology, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12320, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12320. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

Abstract

This paper informs practice in community‐based home visiting workforce development by describing the development and evaluation of a university‐based training certificate program for home visitors and supervisors. The Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF; Wandersman et al., 2008) guides our conceptualization and paper organization. The ISF describes the components involved in translating research findings into effective implementation of prevention programs. We describe implementation and lessons learned from seven development activities: (a) review of the literature, (b) survey of other training initiatives across the country, (c) focus groups with home visitors and supervisors, (d) consultation with individual home visitors, (e) creation of a state advisory board of home visiting providers and stakeholders, (f) evaluation of two pilot trainings, and (g) video development. We then present evaluation data from 49 home visitors and 23 supervisors who completed the training certificate program after the pilot trainings. Both home visitors and supervisors rated training satisfaction highly, reported significant increases in self‐efficacy related to the training topics, and reported extensive use of motivational communication techniques, which are the foundational skills of the training content. These and other favorable results reflect the benefits of building on advances in theory and science‐based practice and of involving providers and stakeholders repeatedly throughout the development process.