Integrate Milestone Moments Booklet into Home Visiting Programs

Integrating Milestone Moments booklets into trainings for home visitors and distributing materials to families during home visits to serve as an aid to discussions about child development.

Examples

• Home visiting programs that have printed and integrated Milestone Moments booklets include Nurse-Family Partnership, which serves vulnerable first-time parents, Healthy Steps, which serves families with young children, and SafeCare®, a parent-training curriculum for parents who are at-risk or have been reported for child maltreatment. The home visitor typically reviewed the milestone checklist for the appropriate age(s) of the child with the parent. In some programs the home visitors subsequently left the booklet with the parent; in others, they kept the booklet themselves for further review with the parent at follow-up visits.

Evidence

• SafeCare: A study was conducted to evaluate the potential impact of the implementation of Milestone Moments booklet into SafeCare and its contributions to parent knowledge of child development and parent-initiated referral rates, including when it is integrated with the SafeCare training program. Four study groups were used, and the study found that parents in all groups who received the booklet reported increased knowledge of child development, fewer developmental concerns, an increased level of comfort approaching a professional about a developmental concern, and had positive perceptions of the booklet.

Project lead:
Healthy Steps – Debra S. Efird, MD