ERIC Number: EJ1326953
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Feb
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1053-1890
EISSN: N/A
Estimating Home Visit Activities: How Much Observation Is Enough?
Peterson, Carla A.; Zhang, Dong; Flittner, Allison; Shelley, Mack C.; Doudna, Kimberly; Cohen, Rachel Chazan; Aaron, Lindsey; Fan, Liuran
Child & Youth Care Forum, v51 n1 p39-61 Feb 2022
Background: More than two million U.S. families receive home visiting services each year, yet little is known about the content and process of home visit interventions. Home visit observations are a recommended tool to address this gap in knowledge, but guidance regarding how much observation time is needed to provide a trustworthy picture of home visits is not available. Objective: This study estimated the length of observation needed to provide a reliable description of the content and process of home visits delivered through an Early Head Start (EHS) home-based program. Methods: Observations of 555 home visits involving 88 families and 17 home visitors were coded with the Home Visit Observation Form--Revised (HVOF-R). The HVOF-R describes the proportions of time spent among several subcategories within each of three major categories: Primary Interaction Partners, Content of Interactions, and Nature of the Home Visitor's Interactions. The psychometric theory of test reliability guided use of bootstrap resampling and the Spearman-Brown prediction formula to estimate the duration of observation necessary to achieve conventional psychometric standards of reliability (r = 0.90 and r = 0.80). Results: Results showed that 40-60 min of a home visit observation yields a reliable estimate of the proportion of time spent on most key features of home visits, especially those behaviors observed most frequently, including interactions among the home visitor, parent, and/or child. Conclusion: Fairly brief observations yield reliable description of home visit activities, and use of observation is recommended to guide program implementation efforts and enhance program quality.
Descriptors: Home Visits, Observation, Disadvantaged Youth, Preschool Education, Psychometrics, Program Effectiveness
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Administration for Children and Families (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 90YF0014