Respecting diverse journeys on many roads: First Peoples of North America can guide us on our path toward precision home visiting

Abstract

Translation challenges persist among early childhood evidence-based home visiting programs. There is a need for a significant shift in the field to overcome the constraints of standardized home visiting interventions. A precision framework has been identified as a method to understand what is needed to address the unique needs of families. We argue that Indigenous experiences implementing home visiting programs overlap with precision home visiting because of the necessity to precisely tailor one-size-fits-all approaches to testing home visitation protocols that do not work for or were never tested in Indigenous communities. Indigenous values, ways of knowing, and worldviews resonate with precision approaches. We provide a concrete example of how these values guided the first pilot implementation study of a precision approach to home visiting called Precision Family Spirit. The process of designing Precision Family Spirit, coupled with considerations of Indigenous values, has much to teach about the need for precision home visiting.