In March 2020, home visiting services in California quickly shifted from an in-person format to an almost entirely virtual setting to meet new public health requirements put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This impacted the more than 15,000 families[1] across the state who receive home visiting services through programs administered by the California departments of Public Health (CDPH) and Social Services (CDSS), as well as individual First 5 county commissions.[2] While some home visiting models had been exploring the addition of a virtual component to home visiting service delivery,[3] the pandemic required nearly all home visitors in California—and across the country[4]—to make this change at once.
To help California learn the implications of its shift to virtual home visits, the COVID study team (study team) conducted interviews with home visitors and program managers during June and July 2020. In addition, the study team administered a survey to families from the home visiting programs represented in the interviews. This brief describes findings from these interviews and survey, including the implementation supports needed for virtual service delivery, the COVID-related challenges and stressors impacting home visiting staff and the families they serve, and families’ perspectives on virtual home visiting during the pandemic.
National Home Visiting Resource Center (2019), 2019 Home Visiting Yearbook: California. Retrieved from https://nhvrc.org/state_profile/california-2019/ in September 2020. The NHVRC data only include data from evidence-based models, which do not capture the entirety of home visiting in California.
Home visiting programs administered in California include evidence based and home-grown models; this study addresses a range of home visiting models, not just those funded by MIECHV.
Parents as Teachers National Center. (March 18, 2020). National Nonprofit Organization Turns to Telehealth to Help Mitigate Coronavirus Outbreak. Retrieved from https://parentsasteachers.org/news/2020/3/18/national-nonprofit-organization-turns-tonbsptelehealth-to-help-mitigate-coronavirus-outbreak in September 2020.
O’Neill, K., Korfmacher, J., Zagaja, C., and Duggan, A. for the Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative. (April 10, 2020). COVID19’s Early Impact on Home Visiting. First report from a national HARC-Beat survey of local home visiting programs. https://www.hvresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COVID-19s-Early-Impact-on-Home-Visiting.pdf