Beginnings Guides Evidence Base & Guidelines for Effective Use(User’s Manual)

Each staff member needs a copy of this Beginnings Guides user’s manual. It facilitates a quick start on ordering and organizing materials, planning visits and using Beginnings Guides effectively and efficiently in the field. The manual includes the Topic Index and List of Illustrations in English and Spanish for the Pregnancy Guide and the Parents Guide. In addition, the manual summarizes the evidence base and editorial principles behind the Beginnings Guides. When you want to tell colleagues about Beginnings Guides, send them a copy of this user’s manual.

The Indexes list of the contents of the Guides in alphabetical order by topic, in both Spanish and English. The Indexes enable you to locate information quickly so that you can respond to a parent’s immediate interest and need, that is, you can teach responsively. Find the Topic Indexes in Appendix A of the user’s manual. The Pregnancy Guide Index begins on page 21. Parents Guide Index starts on page 31.

Lists of Illustrations in the Pregnancy Guide& Parents Guide For each Guide, there is an Illustrations List by topic to help you teach responsively. Find the Illustrations Lists in Appendix A of the user’s manual. Pregnancy Guide Illustrations list starts on page 29. Parents Guide Illustrations list starts on p 49.

The Beginnings Pregnancy Guide focuses on health behavior messages that the research links directly to clinical outcomes. These key messages are featured along with the Beginnings Mothers on this beautiful poster designed for us by Laurel Burch. The Pregnancy Guide comes with a poster for you to present as a gift to each mother. For instructions on using the poster to introduce the Pregnancy Guide and promote health literacy, click here.

Beginnings Pregnancy Guide and Parents Guide  Research shows programs achieve results in areas that they address consistently. The Teaching Documentation Logs enable staff to document quickly topics covered in a visit and to see at a glance what remains to be discussed. A periodic review of the Teaching Logs for a caseload or a program shows how consistently priority topics are being addressed.   The Teaching Logs in English and Spanish list the content in sequence as it appears in the Guides along with spaces to date, initial, and check off topics discussed during a visit, and to make notes. There is a Log for each booklet in the two series, a total of 14 Logs.

Reflection is a fundamental life skill at the core of mothering, health literacy, and empowerment. The Beginnings Guides Life Skills Development Curriculum training focuses on developing staff’s reflective practices to promote mothers’ reflective skills. The primary strategy for developing reflective practice and skills is reflective questioning, or “teaching by asking”.   Reflective questions lead a mother to reflect, that is, to think about her situation, link to her experience, knowledge and new information, and to respond purposefully. Reflection This process is Think, Link & Respond is a framework for problem solving and decision making that enables a mother to exert increasing control over her life. That is empowerment. Learning to teach by asking and using reflective questioning to motivate and empower parents is a focus of the Beginnings Life Skills Development Training.

Beginnings Pregnancy Guide and Beginnings Parents Guide are designed as two series of booklets.

The materials are most effective when distributed and reviewed with the family one at a time over the

course of pregnancy and early child development. Some organizations choose to distribute full sets of

materials, either by mail or in person. Or you might need to collate sets for reviewers or special events.

This document includes instructions for collating Beginnings Guides.

It takes practice, intention and attention to ask good reflective questions that support mothers in setting and achieving goals for themselves, their health and their families. To facilitate teaching and learning, the Beginnings Guides curriculum includes a set of reflective questions related to the key messages of each booklet in the two series.

For each set of Reflective Questions there is a Home Visitor’s Worksheet and a Mother’s Worksheet.  Both Worksheets contain the same questions and space for writing answers.  The Visitor’s Worksheet will be stored in the client’s record, so it includes in the header identifying information for the record. It also includes notes on the purposes of the questions. The Mother’s Worksheet includes only the questions. She retains her worksheet. Details of using the worksheets in practice and for evaluation purposes are covered in the Beginnings Life Skills Development Training.

Design Options for Home Visiting Evaluation Life Skills Progression Brief: Information and Guidelines for Use in Meeting MIECHV Benchmarks click here.

Find your Adverse Childhood Experience Score. These events are important.  How have they affected you? You also can use the questions to generate a reflective conversation with a mother about her childhood experiences and their impacts. 

Testing has shown the questions do not spur trauma or need for professional help. Click here to download the document.