To improve the health and wellness of single mothers and their children living in city shelters, Penn Nursing faculty and students are beginning a year-long initiative to create educational programs on domestic violence prevention and maternal/child health promotion for the residents of Lutheran Settlement House’s Jane Addams Place in West Philadelphia.  

Penn Nursing is partnering with the Jane Addams’ staff and with women’s health nurses from University of Pennsylvania Health System to develop an eight-part education program that can be replicated throughout the city and region to teach mothers about:

• the components and effects of domestic violence
• non-pharmacologic stress reduction techniques
• decision-making, acting/reacting to abuse, and leaving an unsafe environment
• nutrition and how to create an individualized diet plan
• family planning, sexual health, and sexually transmitted diseases
• alcohol and drugs

Through the Healthy in Philadelphia initiative and supported by a grant from the Verizon Foundation, the education program will be led by Associate Professor of Women’s Health Nursing-Clinician Educator Marilyn Stringer, PhD, CRNP, RDMS and Practice Assistant Professor Kathleen Brown, PhD, from Penn Nursing, as well as nurse manager for UPHS Pamela Mack-Brooks, MSN, CRNP.

“Our immediate goals are to address domestic violence and health education, but these are not standalone issues,” said Rose Brandt, Executive Director of Lutheran Settlement House. “We cannot make long-term changes in people's lives through short-term interventions, which is why we look forward to this partnership with Penn Nursing.”