Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness

Evidence of Program Model Effectiveness

This program model meets the criteria established by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for an “evidence-based early childhood home visiting service delivery model.”

Program Model Description

Early Head Start (EHS) targets low-income pregnant women and families with children from birth through age 3 years, most of whom are at or below the federal poverty level or who are eligible for Part C services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in their state. The program model focuses on providing high quality, flexible, and culturally competent child development and parent support services with an emphasis on the role of the parent as the child’s first, and most important, relationship. EHS programs include home- or center-based services, a combination of home- and center-based programs, and family child care services (services provided in family child care homes). The focus of this report is on the home-based service option. EHS home-based services include (1) weekly 90-minute home visits and (2) two group socialization activities per month for parents and their children. Home visitors are required to have knowledge and experience in (1) child development and early childhood education; (2) principles of child health, safety, and nutrition; (3) adult learning principles; and (4) family dynamics. For more information, please read the Program Model Overview.

Extent of Evidence

The Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review identified 113 studies of Early Head Start-Home Visiting (EHS-HV) published between 1979 and December 2011. Of these, Of these, 13 studies were eligible for review: one received a high rating, four received a moderate rating, four received a low rating, and four were additional sources, which overlap with other studies, and were not rated. Across the studies with high or moderate ratings, one sample was used in the research. For more information, read the summary of ratings for each study. For more information on the criteria used to determine the study ratings, please read Producing Study Ratings.

This program model meets the DHHS criteria because there is at least one high or moderate quality impact study with favorable, statistically significant impacts in at least two of the eight outcome domains. At least one of these impacts is from a randomized controlled trial and has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.¹ At least one of the favorable impacts from a randomized controlled trial was sustained for at least one year after program enrollment.

Summary of Findings

The effects shown in the research² are grouped into four categories: (1) favorable, (2) no effect, (3) unfavorable or ambiguous, and (4) not measured. Please read Describing Effects for more information on these categories. Only results from studies that meet the standards for the high or moderate ratings are considered below.

Effects Shown in Research — Early Head Start-Home Visiting

Notes

¹ The journal article is listed as an additional source in the reference list because the findings reported in the article are identical to those reported in a larger study report. The journal article is: Love, J. M., Kisker, E. E., Ross, C., Raikes, H., Constantine, J., Boller, K., et al. (2005). The effectiveness of Early Head Start for 3-year-old children and their parents: Lessons for policy and programs. Developmental Psychology, 41(6), 885–901. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.41.6.885.

² For this report, we present author-calculated effects of the impact on participants. Participants are program group members who received more than one EHS-HV home visit. Therefore, any program group members who received only one home visit (likely for the purpose of completing registration paperwork rather than for service delivery) are excluded.

Last Updated

October 2012