2011-2027
Project Overview
The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE) is a longitudinal study of the effects of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV)-funded home visiting on child and family outcomes. The overarching goal of MIHOPE is to learn whether families and children benefit from MIECHV-funded early childhood home visiting programs, and if so, how.
As of 2024, there have been four main phases to this study:
Phase 1: MIHOPE
MIHOPE began as the legislatively mandated evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. (A Secretary’s Advisory Committee on the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Evaluation advised HHS on the design, plan, and progress of the evaluation and on the MIHOPE Report to Congress (PDF) (PDF) .)
This first phase included:
- a random assignment impact study examining the effects of home visiting programs on family and child outcomes in a broad range of outcome areas specified in the MIECHV authorizing legislation;
- an implementation study providing detailed information on the actual services provided to families and how those services vary depending on the characteristics of families, home visitors, local programs, other home visiting stakeholders, and communities;
- a cost analysis examining the financial costs of operating the programs and how those costs are related to impacts;
- an analysis of the needs assessments that were provided by states and territories in their initial MIECHV applications and plans in 2010 and 2011.
From October 2012 to October 2015, a total of 4,229 women who were pregnant or had a child less than six months old entered the study. Participants were randomly assigned to a MIECHV-funded local home visiting program, or to a control group who received information about other appropriate services in the community.
Families were recruited through 88 local home visiting programs in 12 states: California, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin. Sites in the evaluation operated one of four models that met HHS’ criteria for evidence of effectiveness (see HomVEE) and were chosen by at least 10 states for their MIECHV programs in their 2010-2011 plans: Early Head Start — Home-based option, Healthy Families America, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Parents as Teachers.
The MIHOPE Report to Congress, which included the analysis of the states’ and territories’ needs assessments and baseline data on the families, staff and programs participating in MIHOPE, was delivered to Congress in February 2015.
Data collection for the first follow-up time point (when participating children were approximately 15 months old) was completed in 2017.
A report on implementation was released in 2018, and a report on impact and impact variation at the first follow-up time point was released in 2019. A report on cost was released in 2022.
Phase 2: MIHOPE Check-in
To maintain up-to-date contact information for families after the first follow-up time point, the MIHOPE Check-in project contacted families participating in MIHOPE when the children were approximately 2½ and 3½ years old. MIHOPE Check-In also administered brief surveys to gather information on a small set of family and child outcomes.
Data collection for this phase began in September 2015 and concluded in June 2019.
A report on findings at these time points was released in 2023.
Phase 3: MIHOPE-LT
The MIHOPE Long-Term Follow-Up project (MIHOPE-LT) was initiated in 2016 to design and conduct a follow-up study of participants in MIHOPE to examine the long-term effects of the MIECHV Program on children and families.
Data collection — including a parent survey, in-home activities with parents and children, and a teacher survey — was conducted from 2019-2022, when the children were in kindergarten or first grade.
To understand MIHOPE families’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, a brief survey was conducted in September-October 2020, and in-depth interviews were conducted with a sub-set of parents in November 2020 to January 2021. This information will be used to contextualize the data collected at Kindergarten
Phase 4: Elementary School Follow-up (MIHOPE3G)
The MIHOPE3G project was initiated in 2022 to examine the long-term effects of MIECHV-funded home visiting on families and children when participating children are in elementary school. MIHOPE3G will also examine the benefit-cost of MIECHV-funded home visiting.
MIHOPE is led by the Administration for Children and Families in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The initial MIHOPE contract was awarded to MDRC with subcontracts to James Bell Associates, Johns Hopkins University, Mathematica Policy Research, University of Georgia and a number of academic consultants. The MIHOPE Check-in contract was awarded to MDRC with a subcontract to Mathematica Policy Research. The MIHOPE-LT contract was awarded to MDRC with subcontracts to Mathematica Policy Research and Columbia University. The MIHOPE3G contract was awarded to MDRC.
Point(s) of contact: Nancy Geyelin Margie & Laura Nerenberg
Study Registry Language:
This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov under the title Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE) Visit disclaimer page.
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Language:
Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB # 0970-0402. Related materials are available at the MIHOPE information collection page on RegInfo.gov Visit disclaimer page.
The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (e.g., interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.
Data Archiving Information:
Data is archived at the Child and Family Data Archive Visit disclaimer page.