These resources offer examples of program evaluations and provide information on evaluating the effectiveness of home visitation programs.
Assessing Home Visiting Program Quality: Final Report to the Pew Center on the States (PDF - 3,615 KB)
Korfmacher,. Laszewski, Sparr, & Hammel (2012)
Details the development and initial field testing of a quality rating measure, the Home Visiting Program Quality Rating Tool (HVPQRT), designed to evaluate a program's capacity to provide high-quality home-visiting services to families with infants and toddlers. Three agencies worked as a team to oversee the identification of common best practices, operationalize these best practice elements in a practical program assessment, and examine the usability and inter-rater reliability of the tool.
Building Healthy Children: Evidence-Based Home Visitation Integrated With Pediatric Medical Homes
Paradis, Sandler, Manly, & Valentine (2013)
Pediatrics, 132
Offers a background on the Building Healthy Children (BHC) collaborative that has successfully integrated home visitation into medical care of infants born to young, low-income mothers. Findings from this study indicate that BHC offers a unique model of evidence-based home-visiting services integrated into primary care, which demonstrates high retention rates and addresses the multidimensional needs of young at-risk families.
Components Associated With Home Visiting Program Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis
Filene, Kaminski, Valle, & Cachat (2013)
Pediatrics, 132(2)
Provides a systematic review of the literature to identify evaluations of universal and selective home-visiting programs. Complementary and alternative strategies to home-visiting programs are recommended to ensure widespread impact on public health outcomes.
Design Options for Home Visiting Evaluation Measurement Brief: Selecting Data Collection Measures for MIECHV Benchmarks (PDF - 393 KB)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (2011)
Focuses on the selection and development of performance measures or indicators to achieve an array of goals such as improving maternal and child health, parenting practices, school readiness, and the prevention of child abuse and neglect as they relate to legislatively mandated benchmark areas.
Effect of a Paraprofessional Home-visiting Intervention on American Indian Teen Mothers' and Infants' Behavioral Risks: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Barlow & Mullany & Neault & Compton & Carter & Hastings (2013)
The American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(1)
Examines the effectiveness of Family Spirit, a paraprofessional-delivered, home-visiting pregnancy and early childhood intervention, in improving American Indian teen mothers' parenting outcomes and mothers' and children's emotional and behavioral functioning 12 months postpartum. Outcomes of the study suggest that the home-visiting intervention was successful in improving outcomes for study participants.
Effectiveness of Home Visiting in Improving Child Health and Reducing Child Maltreatment
Avellar & Supplee (2013)
Pediatrics, 132(2)
Reviews the home-visiting research literature and provides an assessment of the evidence of effectiveness for program models that serve families with at-risk pregnant women and children from birth to age 5. Recommendations are discussed.
Evidence for the Role of Home Visiting in Child Maltreatment Prevention (PDF - 340 KB)
Boller (2012)
Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development
Provides an overview of research on the effectiveness of prenatal, infant, and early childhood home-visiting in preventing child maltreatment, identifies research gaps, and discusses implications for key stakeholders.
Evaluating Infrastructure Development in Complex Home Visiting Systems
Hargreaves & Cole & Coffee-Borden & Paulsell & Boller (2013)
American Journal of Evaluation, 34(2)
Outlines a mixed-methods approach to systems-change evaluation and offers a case study of how evidence-based health and human service delivery models have been used to evaluate the development of system infrastructure supporting the implementation, spread, and sustainability of evidence-based home visiting projects.
Home Visiting and the Biology of Toxic Stress: Opportunities to Address Early Childhood Adversity
Garner (2013)
Pediatrics, 132(2)
Offers a public health approach to building critical caregiver and community capacities to minimize the effects of childhood adversity with a focus on expanding collaboration between caregivers and communities to promote the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships that buffer toxic stress and strengthen the social-emotional, language, and cognitive skills needed to develop healthy, adaptive coping skills.
Key Components of a Successful Early Childhood Home Visitation System: A Self-Assessment Tool for States (PDF - 181 KB)
ZERO TO THREE (2010)
Helps States define the home visiting system, assess the home visiting system's capacity, and prioritize areas for improvement. The tool can be used for ongoing assessment and continuous quality improvement.
New Opportunities and Directions in Home Visiting Research and Evaluation
Supplee & Harwood & Margie & Meyer (2013)
Zero to Three, 33(3)
Describes the research and evaluation activities connected to the new Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, the goals of which are to provide information on Federal, State, and local efforts to strengthen programs by providing much needed knowledge on the best ways to support the implementation of home-visiting programs with families, home visitors, supervisors, organizations, and others.
Promising Practices
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.