Promoting Positive Parent-Child Relationships through Early Head Start Home Visits

• In Event: Engaging Families in Home Visiting Programs – A Relationship Perspective and Approach

Abstract

Early responsive parent-child interactions are key to positive outcomes for children (Halle et al. 2011; Sroufe, 2005). Parent responsiveness is associated with enhanced social-emotional and cognitive development as early as infancy (Landry et al., 2006), and early responsive interactions are predictive of children’s later social and cognitive skills (Hirsh-Paek & Burchinal, 2006; Steelman et al., 2002).

Early Head Start (EHS) recognizes the importance of parent-child relationships to improving child outcomes, and this is a specific focus of the home-based program option. As shown in the Early Head Start conceptual framework, the parent-child relationship is a central mechanism through which home-based programs enhance child outcomes (Xue et al., 2020). For home-based families, the core service is the weekly home visit, during which the home visitor shares knowledge and resources and engages the parent as a valued partner in the process to identify ways to enhance the child’s home environment and development. The conceptual framework further posits that the program effectiveness at improving the parent-child relationship depends on the quality of the parent-home visitor relationship.

Research shows that EHS home visits can improve parent-child relationships and have long-term impacts for some (e.g., Harden et al., 2012). In this paper, we explore EHS program processes and practices that support positive parent-child relationships among families in home-based option, using a nationally representative sample of EHS families. We posit that programs may be more effective at supporting parent-child relationships when they focus their goals, professional development, and home visit content on them. However, some features may be more important than others. First, we describe the extent to which EHS programs focus their goals, professional development, and home visit content on promoting positive parent-child relationships. Next, we describe the quality of parent-child and parent-home visitor relationships among families receiving EHS home visits. Finally, we use a multilevel regression model to explore how program goals, professional development, and home visit content and frequency are related to higher quality parent-child relationships, and whether these relationships are mediated by the quality of parent-home visitor relationships, as is posited in the conceptual framework.

We found there is an opportunity to expand home visitor coaching efforts, the use of evidenced-based curricula, and discussion of parenting behavior topics during home visits (Exhibit 1). We also found that having written plans to achieve program goals for supporting responsive parent-child relationships was associated with positive parent-child interactions and that discussing developmentally appropriate care and routines was positively associated with parent-child conflict. The later result suggests home visitors are responsive to families’ needs and working with them to address challenges in their parent-child relationship. The child’s age, parent well-being, and household chaos were consistent predictors of parent-child relationships. These findings will help EHS programs and the systems that support them to identify program areas to target in their ongoing efforts to promote positive parent-child relationships. The findings will also be relevant to other practitioners and researchers interested in improving the quality of infant and toddler programs that seek to improve parent-child relationships.

Authors

• Cassandra Baxter, Mathematica
  Presenting Author

• Yange Xue, Mathematica Policy Research - New Jersey
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sally Atkins-Burnett, Mathematica
  Non-Presenting Author