Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW)®
Model effectiveness research report last updated: 2022
Model overview
Theoretical approach
The Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) model is based on systems theory, which views human behavior as the collective impact of multiple interrelated systems. To understand and assist individual program participants, MIHOW considers how participants are affected by families, organizations, societies, and other systems in which they are involved.
Community health workers (called outreach workers) from the local area serve as home visitors. These outreach workers assess all the systems at play in participants’ lives and then strive to strengthen those systems to help participants meet their goals. Outreach workers help bolster participants’ individual systems (immediate social environment), advocate for participants within larger systems, and support participants’ efforts to improve the systems in which they are involved. By training parents in the community to serve as outreach workers, MIHOW aims to generate broader system change.
MIHOW is a community- and strengths-based model focused on community development. It emphasizes that outreach workers and program participants are equal members of the community with a mutual investment in one another. The model links the parenting experiences of community members with community partners and the university that developed the model.
Model services
The core components of MIHOW are (1) home visits, (2) case management and advocacy, (3) parent education, (4) role modeling for positive parent-child interaction, (5) health and developmental screening, (6) information about and referrals to medical and social services, and (7) peer support groups.
The outreach workers listen to parents’ concerns; educate parents about nutrition, health, and child development; model positive parenting practices; and provide links to medical and social services. MIHOW is flexible and can be tailored to the needs of the sponsoring agency and community.
The month-by-month MIHOW Home Visit Guides (The Prenatal Period, The First Year of Life, The Second Year of Life, and The Third Year of Life) provide outreach workers with objectives and strategies for each visit to improve maternal health behaviors, birth outcomes and early child health, nutrition (obesity prevention and reduction), problem-solving skills, goal setting, and self-advocacy. Outreach workers are also provided with REACH - The Five Step Recipe for a Home Visit, a pocket-size laminated quick reference card that lists the essential elements of an effective home visit.
Intended population
MIHOW primarily serves families with low incomes who are experiencing stress and isolation. Families enroll prenatally and receive home visits until the child is 36 months old.
Where to find out more
Vanderbilt MIHOW
Email: mihow@vanderbilt.edu
Website: https://www.mihow.org