“Creating an impact on the development of the parent and child in risk dyads remains one of the most critical yet difficult challenges for our field.”

- Dr. Kathryn Barnard, Professor Emeritus
University of Washington School of Nursing,
Founder/Developer of NCAST

Congratulations on your decision to implement the Nurse Family Partnership Program in your community. We support and believe in your efforts to make an impact in the lives of families with infants and young children.

One of the components in your preparation to help your clients find and achieve their heart’s desire is to examine the parent-child relationship in a new and different way. You will learn how to administer the NCAST Parent Child Interaction (PCI) Scales – Feeding and Teaching – observe an interaction, understand it, and describe what is happening. Honing your observation skills has remarkable outcomes. We hear over and over from our professionals trained in the PCI Scales that “I will never look at parent child interaction in the same way again.”

What steps and budget planning do you need to do to ensure your staff is trained and reliable in the NCAST PCI Scales?

• Attend training in Keys to Caregiving and Beginning Rhythms. This will establish the groundwork for being good observers of parent-child interactions. Keys and Beginning Rhythms programs do not require a trained instructor. A staff person knowledgeable and passionate about the abilities of babies can study the materials and facilitate group learning. Most of the PCI Instructors are able to provide this training if you prefer.

• Contact our office for a list of instructors near you. NCAST PCI Instructors are trained in Seattle and return to their communities to train other nurses, social workers, home visitors, psychologists, etc. in the use of the scales. The fees for an instructor’s time and skill are set by the individual instructors and/or their agency. NCAST sells the materials needed to learn and administer the scales (the PCI Set is $210 for each nurse). Each nurse must have a manual and pad of score sheets. A Teaching Toy Kit is recommended for each nurse, but one for every two is acceptable if they are sharing a work space.

• Sites that have their own instructor on staff find that they use the assessments more often and experience a higher level of satisfaction. Please contact Denise Findlay at the NCAST office for information on Instructor workshops and planning this into your budget. The NCAST office can also provide you contacts from other programs that have found it worthwhile to have an instructor on site.

Again, we commend your decision to commit to the families in your community and are eager to assist you with staff development materials that will enhance their skills in working with young families. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.