Using the Family Map Inventories to Individualize a Response to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

• In Event: Meeting the Mandate for Delivering Comprehensive Services for Families: Early Head Start Supports and Outcomes

Abstract

The need to understand the mechanisms linked to children’s development through the home and parenting environment has been understood for decades (e.g., Rutter, 1979; Sameroff, Bartko, & Baldwin, 1998). However, overwhelming evidence of the detrimental consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) produced in recent years added pressure for programs serving young children, particularly children living in poverty, to assess and provide individualized services for children and families (Anda et al., 2006; Felitti et al., 1998; Zorrah, 2015).

The development of the Family Map Inventories (FMI; Whiteside-Mansell et al. 2007, 2013) has allowed early childhood programs to screen for ACEs, linked home and parenting risks to program services, and reduced ACE exposures for children (McKelvey et al. 2016). The FMI system is a research-based system that includes a web-based portal, individualized reports, and agency level summary of family needs and strengths. The intent of the FMI is to systematically identify areas of concern and strength and help providers build partnerships with parents to reduce risk factors (e.g., food insecurity, parental depression) and/or enhance factors associated with healthy development (e.g., availability of learning materials in the home). The FMI were developed in collaboration with Early Head Start (EHS)/Head Start parents, educators, and administrators.

We have two goals in this study. First, confirm the items configured to represent ACE risks (FMI-ACEs) function similarly in EHS programs using the online portal as they did in the previous study in which the FMI was administered on paper (McKelvey et al., 2016). Second, examine the change in FMI-ACEs scores over time as evidence that EHS programs are using the FMI effectively.

This study examined data extracted from the FMI portal from nine EHS programs (N=1593) from seven states (AR, AZ, DE, KY, MD, NY, TX) each contributing one interview per child between Aug, 2018 and July 2020. A subset of three programs (N=301, AR, DE, TX) contributed two family interviews. The days between interviews ranged from 91 to 448 (M=186, SD=60). Children ranged in age from birth to 34 months (M=16.3, SD=8.4 months), 48% were male, and 65% were non-Hispanic White. Most caregivers had at least a GED (72%). Multivariate analyses controlled for child gender, age, race/ethnicity, and caregiver education.

First, (see Figure 1), ACE scores (n=1550) follow a predicted pattern of occurrence. Similar to the previous study, a significant negative association (F(1523)=8.28, p<.001) between FMI-ACEs and Parental Warmth (PICCOLO; Cook & Roggman, 2009) was found. Second, in a paired t-test, the mean ACE score was reduced from 1.1 (SD=1.4) to .99 (SD=1.3) and trended to significance (t(300)=1.94, p=.05). However, when the proportion of children with an ACE score above 1 was examined with the nonparametric McNemar test, significant improvement was documented (p=.002).

These findings suggest that the FMI system and FMI-ACE is an effective tool for documenting EHS program efforts to reduce children’s exposure to risks related to ACE. The use of the system by multiple programs across the U.S. by a range of educators suggests the system might be a useful tool for programs.

Authors

• Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
  Presenting Author

• Lorraine M McKelvey, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kanna Lewis, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author