“Anything Would Be Easier than What We’re Doing Right Now”: Early Head Start Home Visitors’ Experiences Working Through an Environmental Crisis

Thistle I. Elias (), Ashley E. Shafer, Ashwini Chaudhari and Tammy Thomas
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Thistle I. Elias: School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Ashley E. Shafer: Office of Child Development, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Ashwini Chaudhari: School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Tammy Thomas: College of Population Health, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Home Visitors and early childhood educators play a critical role in supporting the development of young children from low-income families in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on service delivery dramatically impacted the professional experience of Home Visitors, presenting significant new challenges for this dedicated, often under-compensated workforce. An external evaluation team explored the experiences of Early Head Start Home Visitors serving six regions of a county in the mid-Atlantic region. Researchers engaged Early Head Start program partners in identifying issues and methods of investigation to help inform organizational efforts to support their staff and the families they serve. Findings include that Home Visitors experienced significant stress and mental health challenges due to the frequently shifting environment, loss of peer interactions and loss of personal boundaries due primarily to their efforts to sufficiently support families in a time of crisis. These experiences contribute to burnout and increase the chances of early care and education workers leaving the field despite a deep commitment to the work. Considerations for how to retain high-quality early childhood education workers, in particular through potential significant environmental disruptions, include the need for strong peer support networks and transparent, responsive leadership.

Keywords: early childhood; Early Head Start; home visitors; childcare; pandemic; crisis; low-income families; evaluation research; participatory research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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