Relationships Between Low‐Income African American Mothers and Their Home Visitors: A Parents as Teachers Program

Relationships that developed between low-income African American mothers and home visitors in a Parents as Teachers program were studied. Qualitative open-ended interviews were conducted with mothers. Results indicated that even though the program was designed to deliver the same curriculum to all parents, there were differences in the focus of the visits. Mothers actively made efforts to shape the focus of the mother-home visitor relationships. Diversity within mother-home visitor relationships was associated with the fit between a mother's perceptions of her home visitor and home visiting services and her parenting needs. Implications are provided for enhancing the responsiveness of home visiting programs to the needs of low-income African American parents and for conducting program evaluations in ways that assess home visiting programs in the context of diverse parent-home visitor relationships. Key Words: African American mothers, at-risk families, home visitors, parent education, prevention programs. Home visiting programs, while sometimes offered as universal programs available to all parents, more often are designed and funded to reach families facing especially difficult and challenging parenting (Heinicke et al., 1999). For instance, African American mothers are frequently a focus of recruitment because they face critical health disparities and their children have significant developmental challenges (Berglas & Lim, 1998). They are more likely than dominant culture women to live in low-income and poor communities where there are compromising conditions that place tiieir children at risk for adverse developmental outcomes (Jackson, BrooksGunn, Huang, & Glassman, 2000). In such communities, African American mothers also have limited access to resources to support their parenting, and programs such as Parents as Teachers (PAT) are intended to provide needed assistance. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives and experiences of low-income African American mothers participating in a PAT program in order to enhance the fit between the home visiting programs and the needs of African American parents. The PAT Model The national PAT model of parent education is to educate and support parents through home visits from parent educators (PEs) who use the PAT (Born to Learn, 2005) curriculum. The PAT program is a nationwide model but is carried out as a local program and adapted to local communities (Parents as Teachers National Center [PATNC], 2005). Among parent education programs, PAT is recognized as having well-developed goals and a scientifically informed curriculum that provides a structure and focus for ongoing, typically monthly, home visits (Winter & McDonald, 1997). The goals of the program were to increase parent knowledge of early child development, improve parenting, detect developmental delays and health problems, prevent child abuse and neglect, and enhance school readiness (PATNC, 2005). Home visitors follow a curriculum that includes lesson plans and handouts for each home visit. The curriculum focuses on PEs teaching parents about child development and ageappropriate learning activities they can do with their children, screening children periodically for developmental delays, and emphasizing the strengths of the parent as the child's first teacher. Positive PE relationships with parents are expected to promote active engagement in the program, and consequently, parent-home visitor relationships are believed to be critical mediators between the home-based curriculum and its impact on the child and parent (Halpern, 1993; Heinicke et al., 1999). Relationship Development With African American Mothers Although relationships are key to implementing home visiting, little is known about how relationships develop and are maintained between home visitors and low-income African American mothers. More frequently discussed in the literature are the high attrition of minority parents in home visiting programs and why they do not participate (Gilliam, Ripple, Zigler, & Leiter, 2000; Gomby, 1999). …