"We're the Constant": Navigating Resource Scarcity and Relational Depth in Rural and Urban Home Visiting Programs

Aislinn Conrad; Armeda Stevenson Wojciak; Megan Ronnenberg

doi:10.1177/10775595261456614

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"We're the Constant": Navigating Resource Scarcity and Relational Depth in Rural and Urban Home Visiting Programs

Journal article

Peer reviewed

"We're the Constant": Navigating Resource Scarcity and Relational Depth in Rural and Urban Home Visiting Programs

Aislinn Conrad, Armeda Stevenson Wojciak and Megan Ronnenberg

Child maltreatment

06/05/2026

DOI: 10.1177/10775595261456614

PMID: 42246496

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Abstract

This qualitative focus group study examined how home visitors in Iowa navigate structural barriers and fragmented service systems across rural and urban contexts, and how these dynamics shape maltreatment prevention work. Four focus groups were conducted with 34 home visitors representing multiple evidence-based models. Using thematic analysis, we identified four interconnected themes: structural barriers (transportation, childcare, housing, healthcare access, eligibility constraints), service fragmentation (poor interagency coordination, inconsistent knowledge, waitlists, and service capacity limits), workarounds (informal networks, stopgap supports, and creative problem solving), and role expansion (advocacy, modeling, life skills instruction, resource navigation, and sustained emotional support). Across settings, home visitors described functioning as "the constant" for families amid unstable and under-resourced systems. Rural context intensified these dynamics through geographic distance and limited service availability. Findings suggest that relational constancy and frontline adaptations may function as practical mechanisms that sustain engagement and stability in maltreatment prevention.

resource scarcity

child maltreatment prevention

qualitative research

rural-urban disparities

home visiting

Details

Title: Subtitle: "We're the Constant": Navigating Resource Scarcity and Relational Depth in Rural and Urban Home Visiting Programs
Creators: Aislinn Conrad - University of Iowa
Armeda Stevenson Wojciak - University of Minnesota
Megan Ronnenberg - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Child maltreatment
DOI: 10.1177/10775595261456614
PMID: 42246496
NLM abbreviation: Child Maltreat
ISSN: 1552-6119
eISSN: 1552-6119
Publisher: Sage
Grant note: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control/CDC: R49 CE002108-05
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Funding for this project comes from the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of Iowa (R49 CE002108-05).
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 06/05/2026
Academic Unit: School of Social Work; Center for Social Science Innovation; Injury Prevention Research Center
Record Identifier: 9985172994602771

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