Home visiting support for parents in adverse situations: The nature of support and parental emotional well-being

Warner, Nell ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6347-7354 2018. Home visiting support for parents in adverse situations: The nature of support and parental emotional well-being. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Evidence suggests that for some families home visiting support can be effective for enabling parents in adverse situations to cope with their emotional well-being and other issues. However the circumstances in which home visiting is effective are less well understood. The administrative data from one home visiting organisation, Home-Start, was analysed to identify how the nature of support, adverse family situations and the interrelationship between them were related to changes in parental emotional well-being. The effects of adverse situations were explored by looking at individual risk factors, multiple risks, levels of need and life events that occur during support. Variables describing the average rate at which parental emotional well-being improves over the course of support were developed. Multiple linear regression models were then used to explore the relationships between the nature of support and the family’s situation and that rate of improvement. Several aspects of the way support was provided were related to faster improvements; including more frequent visits, and support being provided by paid workers. Longer individual visits were associated with families improving more slowly. These different aspects of support affected families in different adverse situations differently. Paid worker support was particularly related to faster improvements in families with domestic abuse, disabled parents and multiple risks. However volunteer support seemed just as effective for families with disabled children and large families. Overall the family’s situation was only very weakly associated with the rate at which emotional well-being improved. Though effects were small, families with more malleable risks were more likely to improve more quickly: Domestic abuse was associated with faster improvements whereas large family sizes, disabled parents and parental mental health problems were associated with slower improvements. Bereavements occurring during the course of support also slow down the rate of improvement.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	25 January 2019
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2022 12:37
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/118777

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