Manuscript Detail | Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness

Astuto, J., & Allen, L. (2016). Improving school readiness for children living in urban poverty through home-based intervention: Study 2. Unpublished manuscript submitted to HomVEE in July 2016 and July 2017.

Manuscript screening details
Screening decision	Screening conclusion
Passes screens	Eligible for review

Study design details
Rating	Design	Attrition	Baseline equivalence	Reassignment	Confounding factors
High	Randomized controlled trial	Low	Established on race/ethnicity and SES; not established on baseline measures of the outcomes in the analyzed sample	None	None

Notes:

All analyses included baseline measures of the outcomes as controls. Therefore, outcomes with low attrition are eligible for a high rating. In addition to the outcomes that are eligible for a high rating, five outcomes in the Child Development and School Readiness domain are eligible for a low rating because they had high attrition or attrition could not be assessed and information was not available from the authors.

This manuscript is one of a set of four reports that examine two distinct studies (Astuto & Allen (2018, Study 1); Astuto & Allen (2016, Study 1); Astuto & Allen (2018, Study 2); and Astuto & Allen (2016, Study 2)). This manuscript describes the same study and sample reported in Astuto & Allen (2018, Study 2).

Study characteristics
Study participants	Families were eligible to participate if their children were ages 18 to 30 months, the family was Spanish speaking, and the family was within 100 percent of the federal poverty level and eligible for government assistance programs (including WIC, Medicaid, and SNAP). Most families were referred to the study through a waitlist for a program at a community based organization that serves primarily low-income, immigrant, Spanish-speaking families and delivers the ParentChild+ model. All of the parents identified as Latino and were born outside of the United States. On average, children were 2.4 years old at the start of the study and 3.8 years old at the end of the study.
Setting	Large city in the northeastern United States
Intervention services	At each home visit, home visitors brought a new book or toy for the family and used it to model reading and verbal interactions and teach parents about age-appropriate expectations and interactions. Families received home visits twice per week for 46 weeks over a two-year period, and home visits were delivered in the parents’ primary language. Families also received a $15 incentive for participating in each data collection interview.
Comparison conditions	Participants in the comparison condition participated in data collection interviews and received a $25 incentive for each interview.
Staff characteristics and training	Home visitors were matched to families based on culture and language.
Funding sources	PEW Charitable Funds, Heising-Simons Foundation, Edith Glick Shoolman Foundation, and Edward & Ellen Roche Relief Foundation
Author affiliation	The study authors are not developers of this model.

Study Registration:

Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: None found. Study registration was assessed by HomVEE beginning with the 2014 review.

Findings details

Child development and school readiness
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance
High	Day Night Task	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	ParentChild+ vs. comparison, northeastern U.S., Study 2 full sample	24 months	136 children	Not reported	Not reported	Not Reported	Study reported = 0.18	Not statistically significant, p = 0.29
High	Preschool Language Scale Fourth Edition (PLS-4) - Auditory	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	ParentChild+ vs. comparison, northeastern U.S., Study 2 full sample	24 months	133 children	Not reported	Not reported	Not Reported	Study reported = 0.38	Statistically significant, p = 0.03
High	Preschool Language Scale Fourth Edition (PLS-4) - Total	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	ParentChild+ vs. comparison, northeastern U.S., Study 2 full sample	24 months	127 children	Not reported	Not reported	Not Reported	Study reported = 0.37	Statistically significant, p = 0.04

Positive parenting practices
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance	Notes
High	Parent as a Teacher Inventory (PAAT) - Total	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	ParentChild+ vs. comparison, northeastern U.S., Study 2 full sample	24 months	144 parents	Not reported	Not reported	Not Reported	Study reported = 0.08	Not statistically significant, p = 0.64

Outcome measure summary

Child development and school readiness
Outcome measure	Description of measure	Data collection method	Properties of measure
Day Night Task	A measure of self-regulation and effortful control, child is shown a card with a day or night sky and asked to select opposite response of card shown. Children can earn 0-3 points per trial, and total score ranges from 0-30 for 10 trials.	Observed task	Not reported
Preschool Language Scale Fourth Edition (PLS-4) - Auditory	The PLS-4 is individually administered to assess language competence in children from birth to 6 years. The auditory comprehension subscale includes 48 items.	Standardized test	Internal reliability (r) = 0.86
Preschool Language Scale Fourth Edition (PLS-4) - Total	The PLS-4 is individually administered to assess language competence in children from birth to 6 years.	Standardized test	Internal reliability (r) = 0.93

Positive parenting practices
Outcome measure	Description of measure	Data collection method	Properties of measure
Parent as a Teacher Inventory (PAAT) - Total	A 50-item questionnaire assessing parents' expectation of their child and attitudes about appropriate behavior.	Parent questionnaire	Cronbach's alpha = 0.60 and 0.70