Home visiting program impacts on reducing homelessness among young mothers

ABSTRACT

In the current study, we aimed to determine the effects of Healthy Families Massachusetts (HFM), a statewide home visiting program, on young mothers’ experiences with homelessness during enrollment and after program completion. Data were drawn from a longitudinal, randomized control trial evaluation of HFM. Data collection occurred across 5 time points between 2008 and 2015 from a sample of 704 participants. The current analyses were restricted to a subsample of mothers (n = 443) with Time 5 data (74 months post-enrollment; 59.1% program, 40.9% control), which was representative of the Time 1 sample. We used data from maternal phone interviews to assess program effects on experiences with homelessness. Young mothers who participated in HFM were less likely to experience homelessness when their children were preschool-age or older than mothers in the control group. During program participation, the number of home visits was negatively associated with concurrent homelessness when children were infants or toddlers.

KEYWORDS:

• Homelessness
• home visiting
• adolescent mothers
• randomized control trial

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Lauren E. Stargel, M.S. is a Doctoral Student and Research Analyst at TIER. Lauren’s research interests include understanding how parenting and family context promote resilience in young children and families facing adversity.

Rebecca C. Fauth, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator at TIER. Dr. Fauth is a developmental psychologist specializing in research and evaluation examining the impact of social policies and programs on children and families.

M. Ann Easterbrooks, Ph.D. is a Professor and Principal Investigator at TIER. Dr. Easterbrooks is a developmental psychologist focusing on the individual, relational, familial, and broader contextual characteristics that present challenges and opportunities for developmental thriving among infants, young children, and families.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Children's Trust of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), which is the state administrator of the Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative (MHVI). This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) [grant number: X10MC29474] Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program.