TY - JOUR
T1 - Parent engagement in a Head Start home visiting program predicts sustained growth in children's school readiness
AU - Nix, Robert L.
AU - Bierman, Karen L.
AU - Motamedi, Mojdeh
AU - Heinrichs, Brenda S.
AU - Gill, Sukhdeep
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant HD046064 ) and the Institute of Education Sciences (grant R305B090007 ). We appreciate the cooperation of our partners in this project: the parents, students, teachers, and program personnel of the Head Start programs of Huntingdon, Blair, and York counties in Pennsylvania. In addition, this work reflects the particular efforts and talents of Gloria Rhule and Julia Gest, who contributed to the home visiting program development and served as program supervisors. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Robert Nix, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Human Ecology, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 1300 Linden Drive, Madison WI 53706; robert.nix@wisc.edu.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - This study examined three components of parent engagement in an enriched Head Start home visiting program: intervention attendance, the working alliance between parents and home visitors, and parents’ use of program materials between sessions. The study identified those family and child characteristics that predicted the different components of parent engagement, and the study tested whether those components predicted sustained growth in children's school readiness skills across four years, from preschool through second grade. Ninety-five low-income parents with four year-old children attending Head Start (56% white; 26% black; 20% Latino; 44% girls) were randomly assigned to receive the home visiting program. Assessments included home visitor, parent, and teacher ratings, as well as interviewer observations and direct testing of children; data analyses relied on correlations and hierarchical multiple regression equations. Results showed that baseline family characteristics, such as warm parent–child interactions, and child functioning predicted both working alliance and use of program materials, but only race/ethnicity predicted intervention attendance. The use of program materials was the strongest predictor of growth in children's literacy skills and social adjustment at home during the intervention period itself. In contrast, working alliance emerged as the strongest predictor of growth in children's language arts skills, attention skills, and social adjustment at school through second grade, two years after the end of the home visiting intervention. To maximize intervention effectiveness across school readiness domains over time, home visiting programs need to support multiple components of parent engagement, particularly working alliance and the use of program materials between sessions.
AB - This study examined three components of parent engagement in an enriched Head Start home visiting program: intervention attendance, the working alliance between parents and home visitors, and parents’ use of program materials between sessions. The study identified those family and child characteristics that predicted the different components of parent engagement, and the study tested whether those components predicted sustained growth in children's school readiness skills across four years, from preschool through second grade. Ninety-five low-income parents with four year-old children attending Head Start (56% white; 26% black; 20% Latino; 44% girls) were randomly assigned to receive the home visiting program. Assessments included home visitor, parent, and teacher ratings, as well as interviewer observations and direct testing of children; data analyses relied on correlations and hierarchical multiple regression equations. Results showed that baseline family characteristics, such as warm parent–child interactions, and child functioning predicted both working alliance and use of program materials, but only race/ethnicity predicted intervention attendance. The use of program materials was the strongest predictor of growth in children's literacy skills and social adjustment at home during the intervention period itself. In contrast, working alliance emerged as the strongest predictor of growth in children's language arts skills, attention skills, and social adjustment at school through second grade, two years after the end of the home visiting intervention. To maximize intervention effectiveness across school readiness domains over time, home visiting programs need to support multiple components of parent engagement, particularly working alliance and the use of program materials between sessions.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.06.006
DO - 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.06.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 30911204
AN - SCOPUS:85051787458
VL - 45
SP - 106
EP - 114
JO - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
JF - Early Childhood Research Quarterly
SN - 0885-2006
ER -