Defining a Two-Generation Logic Model

Publication Date: October 20, 2022
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  • Published: 2022

Introduction

Two-generation initiatives intentionally combine intensive, high-quality adult-focused services with intensive, high-quality child-focused programs to improve outcomes for children, primary caregivers, and families. Integrating services for primary caregivers and their children can result in better outcomes than those accomplished by serving each generation in isolation (Chase-Lansdale and Brooks-Gunn 2014; Sama-Miller et al. 2017). Mapping out these services in a logic model is a powerful way for two-generation initiatives to articulate intended outcomes and related services for families.

In the Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Approaches (NS2G) project, researchers partnered with four two-generation initiatives to conduct formative evaluations to strengthen the components of their program. As a part of the formative evaluations, initiative staff and researchers co-created and refined a logic model specific to two-generation initiatives, identified strategies to strengthen the implementation of their initiatives, and tested those strategies using rapid-cycle learning.

The two-generation logic model in this brief was built upon a conceptual framework for two-generation initiatives developed by an earlier project called Exploration of Integrated Approaches to Supporting Child Development and Improving Family Economic Security. The conceptual framework illustrates the link between two-generation services and outcomes for primary caregivers and their children (Sommer et al. 2018). In the conceptual framework, the needs and motivations of primary caregivers and their children are interrelated. As a result, intentionally reinforcing, aligning, and coordinating services for both generations might help caregivers and their children achieve outcomes that support and enhance one another.

This project is part of a portfolio of research focused on coordinated services to support children and families. Projects within this research portfolio address the intentional coordination of two or more services. These projects span OPRE’s program-specific research portfolios, including child care, Head Start, home visiting, child welfare, and welfare and family self-sufficiency. More information about OPRE’s Coordinated Services projects can be found at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/coordinated-services-research-and-evaluation-portfolio.

Purpose

This brief describes how two-generation initiatives participating in the NS2G project developed and refined a two-generation logic model to help them identify the right mix of services for primary caregivers and their children. This brief is intended for practitioners who provide two-generation services and seek to develop a logic model. Appendix A in this brief includes a blank logic model template designed to help practitioners identify these core components for their own initiative.

The two-generation logic model aims to show the pathways from activities to intended outcomes for a two-generation initiative, in which children, primary caregivers, and families can achieve interconnected goals. It describes the characteristics of the families served, the core services offered to each generation to support family economic security and child development, and how those services are intentionally coordinated and mutually reinforcing. In a two-generation logic model, service providers’ efforts align and build on one another toward achieving a shared vision and common or compatible goals for serving families.

Key Findings and Highlights

A two-generation logic model is distinguished from a traditional logic model by the following components:

  • A box representing the specific characteristics of the primary caregiver, the child, and the family’s mutual motivation. Mutual motivation describes how family members will be motivated to participate in services when they recognize and value the other family members’ activities and progress through services.
  • Separate boxes for adult, child, and family services to depict how a two-generation initiative touches the lives of several people in the same family.
  • A box for mutually reinforcing services to illustrate that services for one member of a family might influence services for other family members.
  • Customizable arrows linking activities to outcomes to show that adult, child, and family outcomes can reinforce one another.

Methods

Teams of NS2G researchers and two-generation initiative staff met regularly to identify the key components of their initiatives and map their service delivery approach to a logic model template.  Through these discussions, initiative staff examined their service delivery structures, listed their foundational values for how they work with families, and focused on the primary services they offered. NS2G researchers refined the two-generation logic model based on the input from initiative staff.

Recommendations

Two-generation initiative leaders and staff can use guiding questions included in the brief to identify their core services or activities, prioritize their services, and distill the two-generation aspects of their work in order to develop or modify their two-generation logic model:

  • What are the characteristics of families that participate in the initiative?
  • What are the foundational values of the initiative?
  • What are the primary adult, family, and childhood services of the initiative? How do you intentionally coordinate each service for primary caregivers and their children?
  • What are the most important needs and challenges of primary caregivers, children, and families? What are the short- and longer-term outcomes you hope families will achieve by participating in each service?
  • What affects the initiative’s ability to be successful? What factors influence whether services are delivered in a high quality way that aligns with the intended model?

Citation

Aharpour, Delara and Scott Baumgartner (2022). “Defining a Two-Generation Logic Model.” OPRE Report #2022-38. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A figure note was updated in a revision to this brief in January 2023 to include an additional reference, as noted in the brief. In addition, a reference in the reference list was removed because it was not cited in the text and had been included erroneously. Appendices were also added to this webpage in a standalone PowerPoint file for ease of entering text into boxes and customizing arrows in the template.

Glossary

NS2G:
Next Steps for Rigorous Research on Two-Generation Approaches
Formative evaluation (also called process or implementation evaluation):
A type of evaluation that is intended to strengthen the implementation of an intervention. Formative evaluation is important for understanding what services a program offers, the level of participation by clients and their satisfaction with services, challenges to participating, and ideas for improving the program (Rossi et al. 2003; Smith 2009). This type of evaluation enables practitioners to define the core components of the initiative, develop a logic model, understand participant satisfaction with services, identify barriers to participation in services and areas for improvement in the model, and test strategies to see whether they strengthen the model.