Licensed users receive the MECSH operations manual, a manual for delivering the Learning to Communicate curriculum, and resources for delivering selected focus modules.
Implementing Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program (MECSH)
Implementation last updated: 2020
The information in this profile reflects feedback, if provided, from this model’s developer as of the above date. The description of the implementation of the model(s) here may differ from how the model(s) was implemented in the research reviewed to determine this model’s evidence of effectiveness. Inclusion in the implementation report does not mean the practices described meet the HHS criteria for evidence of effectiveness. Similarly, models described here may not all have impact studies, and those with impact studies may vary in their effectiveness. Please see the Effectiveness button on the left for more information about research on the effectiveness of the models discussed here.
Materials and forms to support implementation
Service delivery forms
The model developer provides licensed users with information sheets and consent forms for clients, and checklists for recording the activities completed during home visits.
Assessment tools
All clients complete a risk assessment, a pre-post assessment of family capacity to adapt and self-manage, and a parent satisfaction and enablement questionnaire. Staff complete child health and development assessments, such as the Ages and Stages Questionnaire or equivalent. Program sites also must assess the outcomes of the focus modules.
Curriculum
MECSH includes a core curriculum that focuses on child, parental, and family health and development; identifying family aspirations; goal setting; and building the parent’s capacity to adapt, self-manage, and parent effectively despite day-to-day difficulties. The curriculum also covers the focus modules the implementing agency and developer selected to meet local needs.
The nurse home visitors also use the Learning to Communicate curriculum. The curriculum is delivered monthly for 12 months beginning when the child is one month old. Each family receives a copy of the Learning to Communicate Parent Handbook and access to online support materials.
Fidelity measurement
The implementing agency is required to have or develop a system for recording fidelity. The developer provides an online database for transmitting the collected fidelity data every three months as required under the licensing agreement. Implementing agencies receive feedback on their performance.
Fidelity standards
The model developer requires implementing agencies to report and meet fidelity standards related to staff qualifications and training, implementation support, client enrollment, client participation, and client satisfaction:
- 100 percent of nurse home visitors have child and family health (or equivalent) qualification
- 100 percent of key program staff receive training in the MECSH model, working in partnership with families (Family Partnership Model or equivalent), and the Learning to Communicate curriculum
- 100 percent of nurses receive clinical supervision
- Health and human services professionals are supporting the program site
- 100 percent of pregnant women and parents of newborns up to eight weeks post-discharge from the hospital who receive care from the local agency that provides maternal, child, and family health services are assessed for eligibility
- 100 percent of eligible families are offered the program
- More than 75 percent of families offered the program agree to participate
- More than 65 percent of recruited families remain in the program when their children are 12 months old
- More than 50 percent of families complete the program when their children are 2 years old
- 100 percent of families are receiving the minimum number of scheduled visits of appropriate duration
- Primary caregivers score greater than 20 on the modified Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18) and greater than 4 on the modified Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI)
Implementation notes
The information contained on this page was last updated in July 2020. Recommended further reading lists the sources for this information. In addition, the information contained in this profile was reviewed for accuracy by Dr. Lynn Kemp at the Western Sydney University on February 21, 2020. HomVEE reserves the right to edit the profile for clarity and consistency.