Evaluating Home Visitation Programs

These resources offer examples of program evaluations and provide information on evaluating the effectiveness of home visitation programs, including State and local examples.

Design Options for Home Visiting Evaluation
MDRC
Describes a project to develop a national evaluation of the Federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. The project will also provide technical assistance to grantees around research, evaluation, benchmarks, data systems, and continuous quality improvement.

Do Nurse Home-Visiting Programs Have Lasting Benefits for Mothers and Children? (PDF - 178 KB)
National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation (2008)
Summarizes the results of a study on the effects of nurse home visitations on maternal and child functioning, finding that high-quality programs can have beneficial effects on families and improve children's achievement.

Early Childhood Home Visitation: Effectiveness of a National Initiative Depends Critically on Adherence to Rigorous Evidence About "What Works" (PDF - 1680 KB)
Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy (2009)
Summarizes findings from rigorous evaluations of eight widely implemented home visiting models, and recommends that policymakers support scaling up models that meet the high standards outlined by the National Academy of Sciences.

Effects of Nurse Home Visiting on Maternal and Child Functioning: Age-9 Follow-up of a Randomized Trial
Olds, Kitzman, Hanks, Cole, Anson, & Sidora-Arcoleo
Pediatrics, 120(4), 2007
Concludes that a prenatal and infancy home visit program reduced women's rates of subsequent births, increased the stability of their relationships with partners, facilitated children's academic adjustment, and may have reduced childhood mortality from preventable causes.

Home-Visiting Intervention to Improve Child Care Among American Indian Adolescent Mothers: A Randomized Trial
Barlow, Varipatis-Baker, Speakman, Ginsburg, & Friberg
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 160, 2006
Assesses the impact of the Family Spirit Project, a paraprofessional-delivered home-visiting intervention to promote child care knowledge, skills, and involvement among pregnant American Indian adolescents.

Impacts of Early Childhood Programs (PDF - 850 KB)
Isaacs (2008)
Summarizes existing evidence on five early childhood interventions, finding that most have had positive effects on children's emotional and behavioral outcomes.

Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully
Child Trends
Offers an online database of program evaluations across various domains of child well-being that target children from birth to early adulthood. Programs include early childhood education and home visiting.

A Profile of Healthy Start: Findings From Phase I of the Evaluation 2006
Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (HHS) (2006)
Profiles Healthy Start grantees, how they implement programs, and the characteristics, activities, and results they achieve.

Programs That Work: Home Visiting
Promising Practices Network
Links to proven and promising home visitation programs, including a program overview; implementation, evaluation, and funding information; sample sites; contact information; resources; and more.

The Role of Home-Visiting Programs in Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
Howard & Brooks-Gunn
Future of Children, 19(2), 2009
Synthesizes evaluation results of nine home visiting programs, finding that the programs have their greatest benefits for low-income, first-time adolescent mothers. The article includes suggestions for how to make home visiting programs have their maximum impact.

What Works for Home Visiting Programs: Lessons From Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Interventions (PDF - 597 KB)
Kahn & Moore (2010)
Synthesizes findings from 66 random assignment experimental evaluations of various home visiting programs in order to identify programs that work and the intervention strategies that contribute to program success. The study found 32 programs had positive impacts on at least one outcome, 23 had mixed reviews, and 11 were not proven to work.

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State and local examples

Building a System of Support for Evidence-Based Home Visitation Programs in Illinois: Early Findings from the Strong Foundations Evaluation (PDF - 3553 KB)
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago (2011)
Presents findings on State-level structures and supports for evidence-based home visitation services, as well as program implementation and quality. Recommendations address local system building, staff development and training, monitoring and quality assurance, and communication.

Final Report: A Randomized Trial of Healthy Families New York (HFNY): Does Home Visiting Prevent Child Maltreatment? (PDF - 599 KB)
New York State Office of Children and Family Services & University at Albany, State University of New York (2010)
Presents findings from a 7-year study to evaluate the effectiveness of a State-administered home visitation program in preventing child maltreatment and risks for delinquency.

Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS): Kentucky's Home Visiting Program for First Time Parents: Program Evaluation Findings (PDF - 3560 KB)
Illback, Sanders, Pennington, Sanders, & Kilmer (2008)
Concludes that for fully engaged participants, the HANDS program achieves goals related to infant health and well-being, subsequent child health and development, risk reduction and home safety, maternal well-being, child abuse prevention, and family functioning.

Teaching Self-Sufficiency: An Impact and Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Home Visitation and Life Skills Education Program: Findings from the Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration Evaluation: Final Report (PDF - 2270 KB)
Meckstroth, Burwick, & Moore (2008)
Presents findings on the effectiveness of the Building Nebraska Families program in increasing employment and earnings and reducing poverty among a subgroup of very hard-to-employ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families clients in rural Nebraska who faced substantial obstacles and skill deficiencies.

Texas Nurse-Family Partnership Statewide Grant Program Evaluation Report (PDF - 244 KB)
Texas Health and Human Services Commission (2009)
Details the establishment of the Texas Nurse-Family Partnership (TNFP) competitive grant program and discusses the results of an evaluation of program implementation at the 11 TNFP sites during the initial grant period.

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