HFNY Evaluation Findings on the Promising Practices Network
Listed as a "proven" program that works, the Healthy Families New York citation on the Promising Practices Network's web site has been updated with recent evaluation findings.
Intro to key evaluation findings:
The Mitchell-Herzfeld et al. (2005) study found overall positive program effects in terms of childbirth outcomes and parenting practices. HFNY mothers experienced better childbirth outcomes than control mothers. Moreover, compared with parents in the control group, HFNY participants were less likely to report neglecting their children and reported committing fewer acts of severe physical abuse, minor physical aggression, and psychological aggression against their children.
One of the items in the Issues discussion:
DuMont et al. (2006) found more pronounced program effects among the first-time mothers under age 19 than among the entire sample, and this subgroup of first-time young mothers resembled the type of participants typically served by NFP programs. Therefore, the HFNY evaluation team proposed that the characteristics of recipients might be a key factor in explaining the differences in the program effects between the NFP and HFA model. In fact, consistent with these findings from the HFNY subgroup analysis, the NFP data have shown that higher-risk mothers also benefit more from NFP services (see the discussion in Karoly et al., 2001). Further studies that examine this hypothesis would be valuable.
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