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The Effectiveness of the Parents as Teachers Program with Low-Income Parents and Children
Abstract
The association between poverty and compromised development, particularly in the early years, has been well documented. Many early childhood programs have been X designed to promote positive parenting and more enriched home environments in order to enhance children's development. We describe findings from a multisite, randomized evaluation of the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program with 665 families, which was designed specifically to investigate the program's effectiveness with low-income families. The observed effects of the PAT program on parenting and child development outcomes were generally small, with few statistically significant effects. More consistent positive effects were noted for very low-income parents and their children relative to more moderate income parents. The discussion focuses on the policy implications of the findings for the design and implementation of early childhood parenting programs for low-income families and future research.
... Once families completed the baseline assessment, they were randomly assigned to receive the Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention, delivered by their regular Early Head Start home visitors during their regularly scheduled home visits, or continue to receive their usual practice Early Head Start home visits, which were structured around evidence-based curricula, such as Parents as Teachers (Wagner et al., 2002), and focused on cognitive and social-emotional skills, motor development, physical health, and positive parent-child relationships. Families who participated in Recipe 4 Success did not receive extra home visits or extra-long home visits. ...
... By relying on evidence-based usual-practice Early Head Start home visits as the comparison condition, this trial of Recipe 4 Success suggests a refined model for how home visit programs can be organized and optimized. Although following one longer evidence-based curriculum, such as Parents as Teachers (Wagner et al., 2002), has been effective overall, adding a series of shorter term evidence-based curricula that are timed with developmental transitions and focused on specific milestones might boost program benefits and yield even better outcomes for children. ...
The Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention targeted multiple factors critical to the health and well‐being of toddlers living in poverty. This randomized controlled trial, which was embedded within Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks, included 242 racially and ethnically diverse families (51% girls; toddler mean age = 2.58 years; data collected 2016–2019). Compared to parents in usual practice home visits, parents in Recipe 4 Success displayed greater sensitive scaffolding of toddlers' learning and more responsive food parenting practices (Cohen's d = .21–.30). Toddlers in Recipe 4 Success exhibited greater self‐regulation and had healthier eating habits (Cohen's d = |.16–.35|). Results highlight the value of Recipe 4 Success in promoting parent and toddler behavior change that could have life‐long benefits.
... For instance, while Early Head Start (that includes both a center-based and a home-based option) has been shown to significantly impact children's cognitive and social-emotional development (Love et al., 2005(Love et al., , 2013, the program reaches only 11% of eligible families (or ∼ 160,000 children; National Head Start Association, 2021). Home visiting programs such as Nurse Family Partnership, Parents as Teachers, and Healthy Families America (Harding et al., 2007;Olds et al., 1998;Wagner et al., 2002) have been widely disseminated and have favorably impacted maternalinfant health, family relational heath, and school readiness (Olds et al., 1986(Olds et al., , 1998. Although such programs have quadrupled the number of families served recent years to reach approximately 300,000 families (including families served by the home-based version of Early Head Start that comprise about a third of Early Head Start families; National Home Visiting Resource Center, 2020), unmet need remains home visiting programs current capacity is estimated at 2% of families that could benefit, with cost a key contributor. ...
Introduced in the context of developmental psychopathology by Cicchetti and Rogosh in the Journal , the current paper incorporates the principles of equifinality and multifinality to support the use of tiered models to prevent the development of emerging child psychopathology and promote school readiness in early childhood. We use the principles of equifinality and multifinality to describe the limitations of applying one intervention model to address all children presenting with different types of risk for early problem behavior. We then describe the potential benefits of applying a tiered model for having impacts at the population level and two initial applications of this approach during early childhood. The first of these tiered models, Smart Beginnings, integrates the use of two evidenced-based preventive interventions, Video Interaction Project, a universal parenting program, and Family Check-Up, a selective parenting program. Building on the strengths of Smart Beginnings, the second trial, The Pittsburgh Study includes Video Interaction Project and Family Check-Up, and other more and less-intensive programs to address the spectrum of challenges facing parents of young children. Findings from these two projects are discussed with their implications for developing tiered models to support children’s early development and mental health.
... It is also known that poor literacy is an intergenerational phenomenon (De Coulon, & Cara, 2008) 2 , and that having poor literacy skills impacts not only on adults' life chances but also on those of their children (Parsons & Bynner, 2007). There is a significant body of literature showing the vital role of the family dimension in the literacy learning of young children and parents (see, for example, Hannon, 1986Hannon, , 1999Hannon & Jackson, 1987;Hannon, Weinberger & Nutbrown, 1991;Hannon, Morgan & Nutbrown,2006;Whitehurst, Epstein, Angell, Payne, Crone & Fischel, 1994;Brooks, Gorman, Harman, Hutchison & Wilkin,1996;Brooks, Gorman, Harman, Hutchison, Kinder & Moor, 1997;Brooks, Harman, Hutchison, Kendall & Wilkin, 1999;Brooks, Pahl, Pollard & Rees, 2008;Hirst, 1998;Ofsted, 2000Ofsted, , 2009Brooks, 2002;Wagner, Spiker & Linn, 2002;Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003;Feinstein, Duckworth & Sabates, 2004;Horne & Haggart, 2004;Kirkpatrick, 2004;Hodge, 2006;Anderson & 1 In the LSC Guidance (2009/10), Standard courses are categorised as running for 60-72 hours. ...
This paper raises and discusses a series of key issues that arose during a 20-month evaluation project concerning the impact of family literacy programmes on the skills of parents and their children. Using a range of mixed methods, the research was based on 74 family literacy programmes in England and involved 583 parents and their children. The majority of previous evaluations of family learning have been quantitative and concentrated on children’s literacy outcomes; they have tended to ignore issues from qualitative research (which can both enable and constrain effective provision), many of which are of great interest to policy-makers. The specific issues raised in this paper coalesce around themes of recruitment; accreditation; the educational profile of parents (including the scarcity of men); the physical teaching and learning environment; the competing agendas between local authorities and schools; and planning opportunities between adult family literacy tutors and early years teachers.
... Numerous parents and teachers still believe that CP is the best method for disciplinary context to rectify their disobedience and rudeness but this practice varies on the cultural aspect of different people in different places. Many parent education programs have successfully targeted and changed attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behaviors concerning using corporal punishment (Voisine & Baker, 2012;Wagner, Spiker, & Linn, 2002). ...
Home visiting programs (HVPs) aim to help low-income parents enhance their parenting skills and improve a host of early health and developmental outcomes for young children. Over the past five decades, numerous HVP models have been developed and implemented, albeit with modest or even null results, according to meta-analyses and comprehensive reviews. In 2010, in an effort to advance HVPs’ effectiveness, federal lawmakers vastly expanded funding for HVPs with certain caveats, one being the requirement that the majority of programs be evidence based. Although the new requirement is a policy win, this review presents four main areas that must be addressed and improved upon if this new funding effort is to maximize positive outcomes. Pointedly, HVPs should have built-in flexibility for states to match the specific or unique needs of a family to a program model that has demonstrated effectiveness in meeting those specific needs. Further, program developers should clearly demonstrate what it is specifically about their model that works, in what context, and for whom. Ultimately, not unlike personalized medicine, state policymakers should target delivery of the right HVP model to the right family at the right time.
Objective
The current study tested whether participating in a family‐focused preventive intervention designed to promote toddlers' self‐regulation improves parental resilience among families living in poverty.
Background
Family‐focused preventive interventions can help strengthen family functioning, but it is unclear how parents apply what they have learned to new child‐rearing challenges.
Method
Two hundred and forty‐two families with toddlers (37% White, 25% Black, 19% Latino, 17% multiracial, 2% Asian; median income = $1,555 per month) enrolled in Early Head Start were randomly assigned to the Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention or usual practice home visits. Parents reported on parental resilience, which included aspects of social problem‐solving, personal control, engagement coping, and self‐regulation, assessed 18 months after the end of the intervention.
Results
A structural equations model revealed that parents in the intervention group, compared to parents in the control group, reported greater parental resilience and used more competent strategies to address child‐rearing challenges (β = .33, p = .03). Subgroup analyses indicated that the intervention effects were similar across families with different demographic characteristics.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates how a family‐focused preventive intervention designed to improve parents' skills in one specific domain at one point in their toddlers' development can have positive ripple effects, enhancing parental resilience in the future.
Implications
These findings reinforce the potential widespread value of providing rigorous, evidence‐based family‐focused preventive interventions during early childhood.
Though composed sometime between 600 and 300 BCE, the Upaniṣads are still read by many today. Apart from the material itself, there is also scope, to delineate the teaching methods used by these texts. The Upaniṣadic pedagogy is unique with respect to setting, teacher-student relationships, pre-requisites and qualifications, active learning, questioning and experimentation. As pedagogy is a growing area of interest for psychologists and educators this chapter will prove to be an asset in the development of teaching methods that apply Upaniṣadic principles for the modern classroom. Several techniques used in these texts have the potential to increase student motivation, interest, metacognition, understanding, application and achievement and even mould future teachers. The chapter is designed to develop an appreciation for an indigenous method of teaching that is practically applicable.
This review summarizes the implementation characteristics of parenting interventions to promote early child development (ECD) outcomes from birth to 3 years. We included 134 articles representing 123 parenting trials (PROSPERO record CRD42022285998). Studies were conducted across high‐income (62%) and low‐and‐middle‐income (38%) countries. The most frequently used interventions were Reach Up and Learn, Nurse Family Partnership, and Head Start. Half of the interventions were delivered as home visits. The other half used mixed settings and modalities (27%), clinic visits (12%), and community‐based group sessions (11%). Due to the lack of data, we were only able to test the moderating role of a few implementation characteristics in intervention impacts on parenting and cognitive outcomes (by country income level) in the meta‐analysis. None of the implementation characteristics moderated intervention impacts on cognitive or parenting outcomes in low‐ and middle‐income or high‐income countries. There is a significant need in the field of parenting interventions for ECD to consistently collect and report data on key implementation characteristics. These data are needed to advance our understanding of how parenting interventions are implemented and how implementation factors impact outcomes to help inform the scale‐up of effective interventions to improve child development.
The effects of neighborhood characteristics on the development of children and adolescents are estimated, using two data sets, each of which contains information gathered about individual children and the families and neighborhoods in which they reside. There are reasonably powerful neighborhood effects-particularly the effects of the presence of affluent neighbors-on childhood IQ, teenage births, and school-leaving, even after the differences in the socioeconomic characteristics of families are adjusted for. The study finds that white teenagers benefit more from the presence of affluent neighbors than do black teenagers.
In this paper, David Olds and Harriet Kitzman review the results of the experi- mental literature concerning the effectiveness of home visiting programs in improving the lives of children and families. Their extensive review concentrates on randomized trials, that is, those most methodologically rigorous studies of all in which families are randomly assigned to two groups, typically to receive either (1) home visiting services (the experimental group) or (2) care as usual (the control group). Olds and Kitzman further focus on just those studies in which the effects of home visiting can be teased apart from the effects of other sorts of services (for example, medical care and child care). Thus, their review does not include some of the studies that are mentioned by other authors (for example, Powell and Weiss) in their articles for this journal issue or described in the Appendix (page 205). Nevertheless, the review is very comprehensive. The authors summarize results of 31 home visiting programs that have focused on preventing preterm delivery and low birth weight; improving the outcomes of infants born preterm or low birth weight; or serving low-income families or families at risk for child maltreat- ment. Tables 2, 3, and 4 depict the results of studies on outcomes including changes in parental behavior, home environment, child development and behav- ior, child abuse, rates of preterm and low birth weight births, and health care utilization. The authors conclude that home visiting is a promising approach, but all too often the promise has not been clearly demonstrated. Indeed, results suggest that home visiting programs in the past have benefited some families but not others and have improved some outcomes but not others. Olds and Kitzman suggest that these differences in effectiveness may be the result of several characteristics of the home visiting programs, including their comprehensiveness of purpose and goals, level of staffing, frequency of visits, and the populations they are designed to serve. In general, the authors suggest that programs which are comprehensive in focus, have frequent visits, are staffed by well-trained profes- sionals, and serve families that are initially at elevated risk for poor outcomes are more likely to demonstrate success. The authors conclude that carefully designed home visiting programs should continue to receive support.
This article outlines a conceptual model of parental involvement in family support programs, anchored in ecological and family systems frameworks. After summarizing the current attrition literature, the article proposes that parental decisions to enroll and remain in support programs are shaped by a variety of factors at different “levels” of influence: individual characteristics of the parent and family, provider attributes, program characteristics, and neighborhood characteristics. The conclusion discusses the implications of this line of study for research, practice, and policy.
We consider 3 questions regarding the effects of economic deprivation on child development. First, how are developmental outcomes in childhood affected by poverty and such poverty correlates as single parenthood, ethnicity, and maternal education? Second, what are the developmental consequences of the duration and timing of family economic deprivation? And, third, what is the comparative influence of economic deprivation at the family and neighborhood level? We investigate these issues with longitudinal data from the Infant Health and Development Program. We find that family income and poverty status are powerful correlates of the cognitive development and behavior of children, even after accounting for other differences—in particular family structure and maternal schooling—between low- and high-income families. While the duration of poverty matters, its timing in early childhood does not. Age-5 IQs are found to be higher in neighborhoods with greater concentrations of affluent neighbors, while the prevalence of low-income neighbors appears to increase the incidence of externalizing behavior problems.
A structural equation, latent trait model was used to identify treatment effects for a quasi-experimental design based on post-treatment status alone. This evaluation concluded that a high quality parent education and support program during a child's first three years increases the child's intellectual development at age three. Staff assessments indicated that high quality parental involvement with the parent educator during home visits was the key to the program's success. The relationship of background characteristics and socioeconomic advantage to children's abilities was not significant. The consistent relationships between observed at-risk characteristics and outcomes provide support for the theory that stress-producing situations can have direct impact on children's language development and achievement—even by age three.