THE SUPERVISOR'S ROLE TEAMWORK

Before the home visitor goes to field or initiates virtual contact, as has happened more frequently due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is necessary to carry out a lot of prior work involving a whole team.

The process begins with a survey of the families and expectant mothers who will be assisted, identifying and respecting each of their particularities. Next, a schedule and all the pedagogical material are prepared by age groups. Then comes the home visitor's turn. The pandemic impacted this process, forcing everyone to reinvent themselves and seek new solutions from planning to approach and contact with families.

The solutions found to give continuity to the activities that encouraged child development and care for expectant mothers were the most diverse but were always discussed with the entire team.

In the testimonies of home visitors who participated in the Parenting Award: Good Home Visitor Practices During the Pandemic initiative, it is evident how important the supervisors’ and coordinators’ support is for the visitors to feel confident in carrying out their work.

Patricia Leal Lima Veneziani (home visitor in São José dos Campos/SP) began her home visiting work in June 2020 amid a pandemic and feared how receptive the families in the program would be. “The support and training we received from the three supervisors and our coordinator were essential for our initiation of approaching and visiting the families,” said Patrícia.

The pandemic generated a new situation for Luzinete de Sousa Pereira (home visitor in Rio Sono/TO), with many adaptations and exchanges of experiences between home visitors and supervisors. “Our supervisor contributed a lot, always instructing us on the best way to do something. If we recorded a nonideal video, she would ask us to modify it and explained how to improve it,” said Luzinete.

Daniele dos Santos Almeida (home visitor in Tefé/AM) had the help of her supervisor to develop a home visit workbook containing four age-specific activities for each child, which was delivered monthly to the 25 families she assisted. “The strategy was for the caregiver to use ordinary household objects in the child's development, which could be containers with plastic lids to put on and take off, a bed sheet for playing peekaboo, or a table for the child to pass under,” informed Daniele. She also emphasized how essential the support of her supervisor Maria da Silva Oliveira and other home visitors on her team was to design this strategy and carry out the activities.

Sabrina de Oliveira Silva Costa (home visitor in Maricá/RJ) believes the help of the coordi- nator and supervisor was essential in selecting and adapting activities. "Their help was essential to distinguish which activities would be necessary for each child according to their age group, keeping the assisted families informed on the situation and sending them weekly reports with tips on precautions, healthcare, food, and personal care” said Sabrina.

Élida Andrade dos Santos (home visitor in Arapiraca/AL) explained how the coordination and supervision teams were essential for her achieving excellent results in caring for a child with speech difficulty and another with walking difficulty. Based on a monthly plan, she instructed the families on how to carry out activities, what materials to use, and the importance of feedback so that the visitor could assess the child's difficulties and progress. “All this work was made possible by the program's coordinator and supervisor who developed strategies for continuing the follow-ups,” said Élida.