Development of an overarching measure of impact for Home-Start UK: a feasibility study

are substantial, and the results are often inconclusive. This report describes the results of an innovative methodological development project to develop evaluation methods, conducted in collaboration with Home-Start UK, a substantial voluntary organisation providing befriending and support to vulnerable families, local Home-Starts in Northern Ireland, Deborah Ghate i , and the Centre for Effective Services (CES) ii . The project was conducted between 2010 and 2012, with fieldwork carried out in Northern Ireland during 2011. This summary is intended for researchers, and contains details of the results of the project and the methods used in it. Further fuller details on methods can be found in the full report, and a shorter summary of key findings for practitioners and policy makers is also available (see below). Purpose of the project The aim of the project was to explore the feasibility of developing and implementing an overarching measure of impact of Home-Start’s work with vulnerable families. The objective was to identify and test a simple, quantifiable indicator that could be administered easily and at low cost to capture the core goals of Home-Start services. The intention was to develop a ‘big picture’ measure that would apply to the widest possible proportion of the diverse group of families who use Home-Start, which could be used for independent or selfevaluation and as an adjunct to more comprehensive and detailed methods of evaluation. This focus on developing and testing a methodologically and empirically robust global and overarching measure of impact, rather than on detailed outcomes, was a key element of the project.

[1]  Patricia Morán,et al.  What works in parenting support: a review of the international evidence , 2004 .

[2]  D. Spiegelhalter,et al.  Quality of life measures in health care. I: Applications and issues in assessment. , 1992, BMJ.

[3]  J. Rothwell,et al.  The Care Placements Evaluation (CaPE) Evaluation of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Adolescents (MTFC-A) , 2012 .

[4]  R. R. Abidin.  Parenting Stress Index: Professional Manual . Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources , 1995 .

[5]  C. Cutrona,et al.  Social support, infant temperament, and parenting self-efficacy: a mediational model of postpartum depression. , 1986, Child development.

[6]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency , 2024, Psihologìâ ì suspìlʹstvo.

[7]  J. P. Wanous,et al.  Overall job satisfaction: how good are single-item measures? , 1997, The Journal of applied psychology.

[8]  Huey-Tsyh Chen,et al.  The conceptual framework of the theory-driven perspective , 1989 .

[9]  S. Normandeau,et al.  Effectiveness of a parent training program "Incredible Years" in a child protection service. , 2010, Child abuse & neglect.

[10]  A. Bowling,et al.  Just One Question: If One Question Works, Why Ask Several? Single Compared with Multi- Item Measures , 2005 .

[11]  S. Folkman,et al.  Stress, appraisal, and coping , 1974 .

[12]  C. Johnston,et al.  A Measure of Parenting Satisfaction and Efficacy , 1989 .

[13]  R. Goodman.  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. , 1997, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[14]  Mark W. Roosa,et al.  Examination of the Cross-cultural and Cross-language Equivalence of the Parenting Self-Agency Measure. , 1996 .

[15]  W. Jenson,et al.  Behavioral Parent Training as a Treatment for Externalizing Behaviors and Disruptive Behavior Disorders: A Meta-Analysis , 2005 .

[16]  J W Mason,et al.  A historical view of the stress field. , 1975, Journal of human stress.

[17]  Anastasia E. Raczek,et al.  The validity and relative precision of MOS short- and long-form health status scales and Dartmouth COOP charts. Results from the Medical Outcomes Study. , 1992, Medical care.

[18]  D. Patrick,et al.  Reliability, effect size, and responsiveness of health status measures in the design of randomized and cluster-randomized trials. , 2005, Contemporary clinical trials.

[19]  Charles L. Usher,et al.  Children and Youth Services Review , 2009 .

[20]  R. Lazarus.  Coping theory and research: past, present, and future. , 1993, Psychosomatic medicine.

[21]  R. R. Abidin,et al.  Parenting Stress Index , 2011 .

[22]  P. Mitchell.  Evidence-based practice in real-world services for young people with complex needs: New opportunities suggested by recent implementation science , 2011 .

[23]  J. Barnes,et al.  The impact on parenting and the home environment of early support to mothers with new babies , 2006 .

[24]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. , 1977, Psychological review.

[25]  S. Cowley,et al.  Evaluating health visitor parenting support: validating outcome measures for parental self-efficacy , 2006, Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community.

[26]  E. Skinner,et al.  Searching for the structure of coping: a review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[27]  Richard S. Lazarus,et al.  Coping and emotion. , 1990 .

[28]  Flora V. Rodriguez-Brown,et al.  Parental Self-Efficacy and Social Support as Predictors of Parenting Practices and Children's Socioemotional Adjustment in Mexican Immigrant Families , 2000 .

[29]  A. Bandura.  GUIDE FOR CONSTRUCTING SELF-EFFICACY SCALES , 2006 .

[30]  P. Coleman,et al.  Self-Efficacy and Parenting Quality: Findings and Future Applications , 1998 .

[31]  M. Cuskelly,et al.  Factor structure of the Parenting Sense of Competence scale using a normative sample. , 2009, Child: care, health and development.

[32]  J. Barnes,et al.  Volunteer Support for Mothers with New Babies: Perceptions of Need and Support Received , 2009 .

[33]  C. Terwee,et al.  On assessing responsiveness of health-related quality of life instruments: Guidelines for instrument evaluation , 2003, Quality of Life Research.

[34]  C. Mcauley.  The family support outcomes study , 1999 .

[35]  Linking stress experiences with coping resources and responses: Comment on Catanzaro, Horaney, and Creasey (1995), Long and Schutz (1995), Heppner et al. (1995), and Bowman and Stern (1995). , 1995 .

[36]  Jo M. A. Hermanns,et al.  Effectiveness of the home-start parenting support program: Behavioral outcomes for parents and children. , 2008, Infant mental health journal.

[37]  D. Teti,et al.  Behavioral competence among mothers of infants in the first year: the mediational role of maternal self-efficacy. , 1991, Child development.

[38]  M. Sanders,et al.  The relationship between maternal self-efficacy and parenting practices: implications for parent training. , 2005, Child: care, health and development.

[39]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[40]  J. Mason.  A historical view of the stress field. , 1975, Journal of human stress.

[41]  Should randomised controlled trials be the “gold standard” for research on preventive interventions for children? , 2011 .

[42]  Francine deMontigny,et al.  Perceived parental efficacy: concept analysis. , 2005, Journal of advanced nursing.

[43]  M. Hyland.  A brief guide to the selection of quality of life instrument , 2003, Health and quality of life outcomes.

[44]  Deborah Ghate,et al.  ‘Community-based evaluations in the UK: scientific concerns and practical constraints.’ , 2001 .

[45]  Nick Frost,et al.  Home‐start and the delivery of family support , 2000 .

[46]  P. McGrath,et al.  The effects of parent training on parenting stress and sense of competence. , 1992 .

[47]  Hanan Hauari,et al.  On Track phase two national evaluation : reducing risk and increasing resilience : how did On Track work? , 2008 .

[48]  Dean L. Fixsen,et al.  Core Implementation Components , 2009 .

[49]  R. Prinz,et al.  Potential roles of parental self-efficacy in parent and child adjustment: a review. , 2005, Clinical psychology review.

[50]  J. Hermanns,et al.  Predicting the effectiveness of the Home-Start parenting support program , 2007 .

[51]  Jessica J. Asscher,et al.  Assessing Change in Families Following the Home-Start Parenting Program: Clinical Significance and Predictors of Change , 2008 .

[52]  T. Harris.  LISTENING BETTER (AND HEARING) THROUGH PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH , 2009 .

[53]  G. Burlingame,et al.  Outcome Questionnaire: Item Sensitivity to Change , 2000, Journal of personality assessment.

[54]  R. Goodman,et al.  The extended version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequent burden. , 1999, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[55]  C. Stifter,et al.  The effect of infant colic on maternal self-perceptions and mother-infant attachment. , 1998, Child: care, health and development.

[56]  S. Kendall,et al.  Testing a parenting programme evaluation tool as a pre- and post-course measure of parenting self-efficacy. , 2007, Journal of advanced nursing.

[57]  D. Whetten.  What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution , 1989 .

[58]  J. Hermanns,et al.  Tracing Changes in Families Who Participated in the Home-Start Parenting Program: Parental Sense of Competence as Mechanism of Change , 2010, Prevention Science.

[59]  S. Kendall,et al.  Developing and validating a tool to measure parenting self-efficacy. , 2005, Journal of advanced nursing.