The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the implementation process for Parenting Plus, an early intervention program in a rural, western Canadian health district. Parenting Plus, as modeled after Hawaii Healthy Start, provides strength-based paraprofessional home visitations to overburdened parents of newborns. The general inductive…

Presents data from diverse sources that lead to conclusion that jobs of paraprofessional home care workers who provide ongoing care for older clients would be more intrinsically rewarding and offer better conditions for high-quality care if workers had more contact with supervisors and peers, more information about clients and care plans, clearer…

The final report describes the development of a program to train neighborhood mothers as home visitors to families with a handicapped child under age 3. The following program aspects are detailed (sample subtopics in parentheses): population (referral sources, family and child characteristics); staff (changes in staffing pattern, hiring core…

Presents estimates of paraprofessional home care revenue and size, the composition of the industry, and the workforce incentives inherent in different forms of reimbursement. Findings from the review are discussed, including indications that industry's reliance on public funding places special importance on payment policies that recognize critical…

This report reviews the 248 home visiting programs serving children ages birth to 18 which provide a written training curriculum to their paraprofessionals. Programs were identified as part of a national survey of 4,162 potential home visiting programs (1,904 responses). Through a categorization process, 115 programs were identified as having…

Project Sunrise, a home based parent training model, was designed to serve preschool handicapped children living in rural areas of Montana. Literature was reviewed on when to begin educational intervention, the results of early intervention, the types of intervention most effective, the positive effects of parent education, and the benefits of…

Paraprofessionals provided informal social support to 92 low-income parents during pregnancy and for a year afterward. Mother-infant interaction was better at four months in the home-visited families than in controls, especially with teen and Hispanic mothers. Positive and irritable or fearful mothers appeared to benefit more than passive or…

The doument provides seven appendixes containing information on the PEECH (Program for Early Education of Children with Handicaps) Outreach Project. Appendix I contains a financial report form for the project. Outlined in Appendix II are PEECH Outreach goals and objectives (including the presentation of a Home Intervention Training Program),…

Designed as a training and reference manual for instructors and their administrators in Adult Basic Education (ABE) home instruction programs, the handbook is based upon experience in six projects in Ohio and Kentucky. Adults receiving home instruction are functionally illiterate and, through a combined lack of transportation, child care,…

This conference paper discusses the results of a study that investigated the characteristics and needs of mothers participating in Hawaii's Healthy Start Program (HSP). The HSP is a screening and outreach program with two components: (1) the early identification component, which consists of community-based screening to identify newborns at…

A study evaluated impact of supportive paraprofessional home visiting on 88 mothers and young children with or at-risk for developmental disabilities and at-risk for inadequate parenting. Mothers who received services demonstrated moderately better mental health than controls, and their children were more likely to have an Individualized Family…

This report describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a pilot early intervention program for parents and their infants 1 to 36 months old. Parents were trained by paraprofessionals (under the direction of professionals) to increase their psychomotor areas. The pilot project included 90 families with children under three years of…

Cost-benefit studies of the Early Intervention Research Institute at Utah State University are summarized. No differences were found in educational effectiveness between half- and full-day programs, with the costs of half-day programs being about 75-85% of full-day programs. No significant differences were found between groups served by…

The Adult Armchair Education project (AAE) of the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) in Philadelphia undertook instruction and skill development among the disadvantaged through learning groups in homes. Indigenous paid staff conducted direct, door-to-door recruitment. Classes, meeting once a week, 2 1/2 hours per session, for 10 weeks,…

This handbook describes the organization and implementation of a home based program for handicapped preschool children. The handbook is designed for use by teachers working with parents and is based on an exemplary program called Project PEECH (Program for Early Education of Children with Handicaps). The program emphasizes the role of parents and…