HOMEVISITING - TEACHING DIRECT PRACTICE SKILLS THROUGH A RESEARCH-PROJECT

A homevisiting research project can both facilitate data gathering in poor and minority communities and provide an innovative learning oppor tunity for direct practice students. Based on the experiences of the a uthors, who as teacher and MSW student visited homes in three low-inco me communities in New York to interview single African-American mother s and assess their children's preschool readiness, this article provid es a structure for teaching and learning skills in data gathering and intervening with families in poor urban neighborhoods. It notes the be nefits and obstacles of homevisiting and offers thoughts on integratin g policy, research, and direct practice.