Assessing the quality of home visit parenting programs in Latin America and the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

Home-visit parenting programmes have been linked to positive developmental outcomes among participating children, yet few studies have explored the mechanisms behind this impact. We observe 40 home visits across seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, using an observational tool to assess visit content, coaching strategy, and the quality of the relationship between the home visitor (HV) and families. Across nearly all visits observed, we find strong rapport between visitors and families, and active participation in play-based learning activities introduced by the HV. Other aspects of home visit design are weakly implemented, namely the revision of topics from previous sessions, demonstration of activities, and dialogue between caregiver and HV. The visits observed provide an opportunity for caregivers to practice early stimulation activities, but it is unclear whether this strategy contributes to strengthening caregivers’ knowledge of child development.

KEYWORDS:

• Home visits
• parenting programmes
• implementation quality
• fidelity
• Latin America and the Caribbean

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jane Leer is an applied researcher in the fields of education and social protection. She is currently a research specialist at Save the Children, where she leads research design and analysis for education and early childhood development programmes in West Africa and Latin America. This study was conducted while she was a research fellow at the Inter-American Development Bank in Nicaragua, supporting two randomized-controlled trial impact evaluations of early childhood development programmes. Jane holds a B.A. in Development Studies with Highest Honours from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in International Education Policy Analysis from Stanford University. She has authored and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed papers and edited volumes.

Dr. Florencia Lopez Boo holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oxford (UK). She is currently a senior economist the Division of Social Protection and Health of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and associate researcher of Young Lives at the Department of International Development (University of Oxford). Her work focuses on the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public policies on child development and social protection. She leads an initiative on behavioural economics and social policies, as well as numerous IDB knowledge products. She has published numerous articles in specialized journals such as the Lancet, Journal of Human Resources, Pediatrics, Economic Letters, and the New York Academy of Sciences. She is also the author and co-author of several books on education and child development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

ORCID

Jane Leer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7594-217X

Florencia Lopez Boo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4853-2335