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Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models
Home visiting is a popular component of programs for HIV-affected children in sub-Saharan Africa, but its implementation varies widely. While some home visitors are lay volunteers, other programs invest in more highly trained paraprofessional staff. This paper describes a study investigating whether...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Routledge
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4205849/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25379052 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2014.954025 |
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author | Kidman, Rachel Nice, Johanna Taylor, Tory Thurman, Tonya R. |
author_facet | Kidman, Rachel Nice, Johanna Taylor, Tory Thurman, Tonya R. |
author_sort | Kidman, Rachel |
collection | PubMed |
description | Home visiting is a popular component of programs for HIV-affected children in sub-Saharan Africa, but its implementation varies widely. While some home visitors are lay volunteers, other programs invest in more highly trained paraprofessional staff. This paper describes a study investigating whether additional investment in paraprofessional staffing translated into higher quality service delivery in one program context. Beneficiary children and caregivers at sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa were interviewed after 2 years of program enrollment and asked to report about their experiences with home visiting. Analysis focused on intervention exposure, including visit intensity, duration and the kinds of emotional, informational and tangible support provided. Few beneficiaries reported receiving home visits in program models primarily driven by lay volunteers; when visits did occur, they were shorter and more infrequent. Paraprofessional-driven programs not only provided significantly more home visits, but also provided greater interaction with the child, communication on a larger variety of topics, and more tangible support to caregivers. These results suggest that programs that invest in compensation and extensive training for home visitors are better able to serve and retain beneficiaries, and they support a move toward establishing a professional workforce of home visitors to support vulnerable children and families in South Africa. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4205849 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Routledge |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42058492014-11-04 Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models Kidman, Rachel Nice, Johanna Taylor, Tory Thurman, Tonya R. Vulnerable Child Youth Stud Original Articles Home visiting is a popular component of programs for HIV-affected children in sub-Saharan Africa, but its implementation varies widely. While some home visitors are lay volunteers, other programs invest in more highly trained paraprofessional staff. This paper describes a study investigating whether additional investment in paraprofessional staffing translated into higher quality service delivery in one program context. Beneficiary children and caregivers at sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa were interviewed after 2 years of program enrollment and asked to report about their experiences with home visiting. Analysis focused on intervention exposure, including visit intensity, duration and the kinds of emotional, informational and tangible support provided. Few beneficiaries reported receiving home visits in program models primarily driven by lay volunteers; when visits did occur, they were shorter and more infrequent. Paraprofessional-driven programs not only provided significantly more home visits, but also provided greater interaction with the child, communication on a larger variety of topics, and more tangible support to caregivers. These results suggest that programs that invest in compensation and extensive training for home visitors are better able to serve and retain beneficiaries, and they support a move toward establishing a professional workforce of home visitors to support vulnerable children and families in South Africa. Routledge 2014-10-02 2014-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4205849/ /pubmed/25379052 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2014.954025 Text en © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. |
spellingShingle | Original Articles Kidman, Rachel Nice, Johanna Taylor, Tory Thurman, Tonya R. Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
title | Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
title_full | Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
title_fullStr | Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
title_full_unstemmed | Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
title_short | Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
title_sort | home visiting programs for hiv-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models |
topic | Original Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4205849/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25379052 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2014.954025 |
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