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Sustained Impact on Parenting Practices: Year 7 Findings from the Healthy Families New York Randomized Controlled Trial

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Abstract

Prevention of maltreatment and harsh parenting are the primary goals of evidence-based home visiting programs, but rigorous studies demonstrating long-term outcomes are limited despite widespread implementation. The current study examines data from a 7-year follow-up study of a randomized controlled trial of Healthy Family New York (HFNY). Specifically, the study examines whether HFNY participation predicts lower rates of harsh and abusive parenting 7 years after enrollment. The data include both maternal self-report of parenting behaviors as well as the target child’s report of harsh parenting. The year 7 sample included 942 mother interviews (83.5% retention from baseline) and 800 child interviews. At the 7-year follow-up, maternal-reported behaviors measured by CTS-PC showed a significantly increased use of positive parenting strategies and lower levels of serious physical abuse in the HFNY group compared with the control group. Significant group differences were observed for the frequency with which mothers engaged in severe or very severe physical assault (control group = .16, compared with .03 in the intervention group, p < .001). In addition, fewer children reported that their parents used minor physical assault. There was no intervention impact on indicated child protective service records. The current study indicates that home visiting participation reduces harsh and abusive parenting and promotes positive parenting behaviors that endure and may strengthen later development.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all families participated in the trial and research interviewers and staff involved in data collection.

Funding

The study is financially supported by the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: National Institute of Justice Grant 2006-Mu-Mu-0002 and NYS Office of Children and Family Services grant number 1058555-1-41144.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bureau of Research, Evaluation and Performance Analytics, New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Rensselaer, NY, USA

    Kristen Kirkland

  2. Center for Human Services Research, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

    Eunju Lee, Carolyn Smith & Rose Greene

  3. School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

    Eunju Lee & Carolyn Smith

Authors
  1. Kristen Kirkland
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  2. Eunju Lee
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  3. Carolyn Smith
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  4. Rose Greene
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eunju Lee.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The research protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board at University at Albany, the State University of New York (IRB approval #00-246).

Informed Consent

A research staff contacted the mother by phone, described the interview process, and scheduled a time to meet over phone. Once in the home, the interviewer answered mothers’ questions about the study and obtained informed consent from the mother to conduct her interview, as well as consent for her child to participate in an interview. When the mother provided consent to interview the child, the interviewer also explained the study and obtained the child’s assent to participate.

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Kirkland, K., Lee, E., Smith, C. et al. Sustained Impact on Parenting Practices: Year 7 Findings from the Healthy Families New York Randomized Controlled Trial. Prev Sci 21, 498–507 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01110-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01110-w

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