EARLY HEAD START HOME VISITOR PERCEPTIONS OF PROGRAM ENVIRONMENT AND LEADERSHIP

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Early Head Start home visitors support the development of infants and toddlers by providing parent- education, support, and coaching directly in the family home. Families served often experience complex challenges and trauma. To better support families, home visitors receive professional development including training, coaching, and reflective supervision. However, much less is known about how the program environment as a work environment and program leadership support home visitors, or how they relate to professional development and home visitor retention. This study examines home visitor perceptions of the program environment and leadership and their relationship to professional development. Specifically, the research questions for this study include: 1) How are home visitor perceptions of program supports (work environment and programmatic leadership) similar and different across home visitors? 2) How does home visitor job satisfaction relate to perceptions of work environment, programmatic leadership, and retention? 3) What experiences explain local-level EHS home visitor perceptions of program supports and job satisfaction? Results indicated that home visitor education, especially an associate degree was predictive of profiles reflecting more positive perceptions of work environment and leadership and lower stress while vacancies were predictive of profiles reflecting more neutral or negative perceptions and higher stress. Results also indicate that home visitors feel satisfied when successfully helping families but stress and dissatisfaction when families are disengaged.
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