Evaluation study on a home visiting program in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article reports on the findings of two studies on the outcomes of a pioneer home visiting program in Hong Kong. The first study measures the indirect effects of the program in the first three years of its operation while the second study measures its effect on directly reducing child abuse potentials among service recipients in the last two years. The two studies consistently show that the program had ameliorated feelings of distress and loneliness of mothers. Nevertheless, the program cannot solve problems in parental attitude and, marital and family relationships. The second study farther shows that the child abuse potential of mothers was significantly reduced after the program. Possible usefulness of the home visitation program is discussed, in the light of the findings of these two studies.