Impacts on Family Outcomes of Evidence-Based Early Childhood Home Visiting: Results from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation

• There are positive effects of home visiting programs that participated in MIHOPE, and they are generally similar to but somewhat smaller than the average effects found in past stud­ies. Of 12 outcomes the study focused on, 4 had estimated effects that are statistically significant. No outcome area stands out as one where home visiting programs had large effects.

• Differences in effects among the evidence-based home visiting models are generally consistent with the models’ focuses. For example, Parents as Teachers produced the largest increase in parental supportiveness and Nurse-Family Partnership produced the largest reduction in emergency department visits for children, although the differences are sensitive to the statistical methods used.

• Effects on family outcomes do not vary much by family characteristics, suggesting that home visit­ing is not having larger effects for different types of families. The effects may vary in ways that were not examined in this report.

• Effects were generally consistent across local programs. In addition, differences in the way programs were implemented were not associated with differences in effects, and families who received more home visits did not benefit more than other families. In short, local programs were equally effective across different settings and with different implementation features.

MIHOPE is focused on the four evidence-based models that 10 or more states chose in their fiscal year 2010 plans for MIECHV funding: Early Head Start — Home-based option (EHS), Healthy Families America (HFA), Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), and Parents as Teachers (PAT). It includes 88 local home visiting programs in 12 states. More than 4,200 women who were pregnant or had children less than six months old were randomly assigned to a MIECHV-funded home visiting program or to a control group that was provided with information on services in the community.

Information was collected consistently across evidence-based models. Information on program implementation comes from surveys administered to mothers when they entered the study; information provided by home visitors and supervisors on the services they provided to families; surveys of home visitors, supervisors, and local program managers; and interviews with evidence-based model developers and state MIECHV administrators. For the analysis of program effects, information comes from surveys conducted with mothers when they entered the study and around the time their children were 15 months old. The study also draws on observations of mothers and children playing with toys (the Three Bags and Clean-Up tasks), observations of the home environment, direct assessments of children’s receptive language skills, state Medicaid and administrative child welfare data, and employment and earnings data from the National Directory of New Hires. 

Impacts on Family Outcomes of Evidence-Based Early Childhood Home Visiting (PDF)

Michalopoulos, Charles, Kristen Faucetta, Carolyn J. Hill, Ximena A. Portilla, Lori Burrell, Helen Lee, Anne Duggan, and Virginia Knox. 2019. Impacts on Family Outcomes of Evidence-Based Early Childhood Home Visiting: Results from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation. OPRE Report 2019-07. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.