I started my public health career at the Sacramento County Department of Health Services as a Health Education Assistant in their Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Department. Intrigued by the endlessly fascinating work of the county epidemiologists, I decided to pursue an MPH at UC Berkeley in the MCAH concentration (formerly MCH). After graduation, I worked as a California Epidemiologic Investigation Service (Cal-EIS) Fellow with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH)’s MCAH Division in their Epidemiology section. While I was a fellow the Affordable Care Act was passed, which provided federal funds for early childhood home visiting in California. Since 2010, I have progressed through the Research Scientist series within CDPH’s MCAH Division, mostly focusing on home visiting programs but also with a brief detour into Adolescent Sexual Health Education.
I am currently a Research Scientist III in the California Home Visiting Program (CHVP). I work with a team of research scientists in the Program Evaluation and Data Systems Branch to provide local health jurisdictions with data to monitor their implementation of home visiting programs throughout California. For instance, we produce monthly caseload graphs for approximately 35 local health jurisdictions and our team produces complex annual and quarterly data reports for the federal government to meet our funding requirements. We also provide data to support continuous quality improvement projects conducted at the local level. Over the years, I’ve participated in two federally mandated statewide needs assessment for home visiting. In addition to the original federal funds, CHVP received support from the California State General Fund (SGF) in 2019 and again in 2022 to expand evidence-based home visiting. The goals of CHVP are to promote maternal health and well-being, improve infant and child health and development, strengthen family functioning, and cultivate strong communities. Local health jurisdictions currently select either the Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership and/or Parents as Teachers home visiting model, based on the specific needs of the region. All three models are strengths-based and focus on a participant’s individual interests. Each model has slightly different eligibility requirements, program duration, curriculum and training of home visitors. However, each model strives to increase parental knowledge of early childhood development and improve parenting practices, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect, and increase children’s school readiness and success.
Most recently, I’ve been developing implementation tracking metrics for newly funded home visiting programs. Since these new funds didn’t come with a prescribed set of indicators on which to report, I identified the appropriate variables, developed SAS code, and created a home visiting annual report which aggregates data across California’s SGF supported home visiting programs. Alongside the data work in SAS, I spend ample time collaborating with the health program specialists to support successful implementation of home visiting programs at the local level. Currently, I’m collaborating to create a performance framework across three evidence-based home visiting models and two funding sources.
I enjoy working on CHVP because it’s a multi-generational, preventive intervention focused on promoting positive parenting and child development. It provides strength-based support at two very important points in the life course of families. CHVP is designed for overburdened families who are at risk for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including child maltreatment, domestic violence, substance use disorder and mental health related issues. Decades of research on home visiting shows that home visits by a trained professional during pregnancy and in the first few years of life improves the lives of children and families. The MPH program at BPH with a concentration MCAH was excellent preparation for the work I do now. My education provided me with a perfect balance between analytical skills and basic public health knowledge, both of which I use daily. Skills like conducting needs assessments, program planning and evaluation, creating and using logic models, and developing measurable goals have all helped me succeed at my job. I have the quantitative research skills to conduct epidemiolocal research, but I don’t do that every day. I use my SAS skills mostly for managing large data sets to provide the evaluative information necessary for health program specialists to do their jobs. The MCAH and social behavioral courses at BPH gave me a solid foundation in the life-course theory, social-ecological model, and health equity principles, which are all very important for serving the MCAH population.
The future of CHVP looks bright. Recent increases in state and federal funds allow CHVP to provide funding and support to more California counties that want to implement home visiting. This increase in funding also allows CHVP to increase capacity at the state level by hiring more research scientists and program specialists who are interested in contributing to the wellbeing of California’s children.
Feel free to email me with any questions about CHVP, Cal-EIS, or being a Research Scientist at CDPH. Catherine.Gilmore-Zarate@cdph.ca.gov