Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation

Summary

MIHOPE is a multi-state study of home visiting programs authorized under the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. The study is required by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), which created the MIECHV program. It is being conducted by MDRC under contract to the Administration for Children and Families within the US Department of Health and Human Services. In conducting the research, MDRC has subcontracted portions of the research to Mathematica Policy Research, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, University of Georgia, and James Bell Associates.

MIHOPE is randomly assigned 4,229 families nationally to home visiting services or to a comparison group that will receive referrals to other services in the community. The study is seeking to include 88 local home visiting programs (sites) that are funded through MIECHV in approximately 12 states. Data will be collected from families, local home visiting programs, and state and federal administrative data systems to assess the effects of the programs on family outcomes and to learn more about how the programs are run. Sites included in the evaluation will be using one of four national service models (Nurse Family Partnership, Healthy Families America, Parents as Teachers, and Early Head Start-Home Visiting Option) that states have chosen for most of their MIECHV funding. MIHOPE will inform the federal government about the effectiveness of the MIECHV program in its first few years of operation, and it will provide information to help states develop and strengthen home visiting programs in the future. Research findings will be disseminated through a report to Congress in 2015; reports on program impacts, implementation, and on the relationship between program features and program impacts; journal articles; and practitioner briefs.

Conditions

• Pregnancy
• Infant Development

Interventions

OTHER

Home visiting

Home visits are used to assess family needs, provide support and education, and make referrals to relevant community services. The goals of the programs are to improve child health and development, promote positive parenting, prevent child maltreatment, improve maternal and child health, and increasing parental self-sufficiency.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

  collaborator OTHER

• Johns Hopkins University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Georgia

  collaborator OTHER

• Columbia University

  collaborator OTHER

• James Bell Associates

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• MDRC

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Charles Michalopoulos, PhD · MDRC

• Virginia Knox, PhD · MDRC

• Anne Duggan, ScD · Johns Hopkins University

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-10-31

Primary Completion

2019-01-31

Completion

2027-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations