Infant and early childhood home visiting models are gaining prominence as effective programs for families. Most U.S. state infant mental health associations (IMHAs) recommend reflective supervision (RS) and Infant Mental Health (IMH‐E®) Endorsement® as components of home visitor professional development. These efforts may promote workforce professional quality of life. It is unknown whether a workplace policy to provide RS improves the likelihood that best practice guidelines, especially core components of a reflective supervisory relationship, are experienced by the workforce. We sought to investigate associations between home visitor well‐being indicated by professional quality of life (i.e., burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction) and a workplace policy providing RS, consistent experience of core components of a reflective supervisory relationship, and engagement in endorsement. We also examined differences in consistently experiencing core components of the reflective supervisory relationship in home visitors who reported having a workplace policy for providing RS and those who did not, and for home visitors engaged or not engaged in the endorsement process. A Workplace Supports Survey was designed to investigate these associations; we report findings from a sample of home visitor respondents (N = 139). A policy to provide RS was not associated with professional quality of life. However, analyses suggest an association between a policy to provide RS and consistently experiencing core components of a reflective supervisory relationship. Unanticipated positive associations between engagement in endorsement and burnout and secondary traumatic stress were also found. Finally, engagement in endorsement was associated with less consistent experience of these core components. Implications for future inquiry about the purposes of RS and IECMH Endorsement® as strategies to promote workforce development and well‐being are discussed.
Fostering collaboration and instilling core competencies across the diverse Infant Mental Health systems and understanding their training needs are crucial endeavors to support the delivery of evidence-based care and treatment continuity for infants and their families. This paper details the Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health's use of a comprehensive infant mental health training series as a vehicle to achieve these aims. The training series, and the steps taken to execute and evaluate it are described to provide a framework for future collaborative training initiatives. Evaluation efforts were designed to address knowledge sought and gained and included pre and posttraining tests, participant reports of their training goals and needs, and interviews with trainers regarding the series' strengths and limitations. Findings suggest significant improvements in participants' knowledge of training content across trainings. Participants indicated a desire for trainings on working with the whole family and their plan to integrate skills from the training into their work. Recommendations from trainers and evaluators are provided to spark future trainings and collaborative efforts.
Maternity leave is linked with maternal mental and physical health, infant health and well-being, family functioning and financial security. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing gender and wage inequities in the workplace. The pandemic challenges policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to consider lessons learned regarding advancement of maternity leave policy that addresses realities facing 21st century families. A first step to redressing the negative impacts of COVID-19 that have disproportionately impacted women and mothers in particular, is to advance and implement policy that guarantees all mothers, regardless of employer or employment type, a minimum of 12-weeks fully paid maternity leave.
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