Overview and Profiles of State-Led Evaluations: The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program—Fiscal Years 2014–2018 (2nd edition)

The legislation authorizing the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a continuous program of research and evaluation activities to build knowledge around the implementation and effectiveness of home visiting programs.

MIECHV awardees may apply to receive funding to carry out well-designed, rigorous evaluations that will contribute knowledge to the field of home visiting. State-led evaluations allow awardees to answer questions important to their state; contribute new knowledge to understand home visiting; and build the evidence base to inform data-driven policy at the local, state, and national levels.

Between fiscal years 2014 and 2018, 42 awardees developed 97 evaluation plans that were approved by the Health Resources and Services Administration with support from the Administration for Children and Families. The following products summarize and synthesize information from these evaluation plans:

• Overview of State-Led Evaluations: The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. This resource synthesizes information across the evaluation profiles, including common evaluation topics and designs.
• Profiles of State-Led Evaluations: The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. This resource provides information about each evaluation, including the funded agency, the time and length of the grant, home visiting models evaluated, topics addressed, evaluation design details, and research questions.

Common evaluation topics include—

• How to recruit, retain, and engage participants in home visiting services
• How workforce development can strengthen home visiting services

Common types of evaluations include—

• Implementation studies of evidence-based services or promising approaches
• Outcome studies of home visiting participants
• Systems change studies examining changes at the state- and community-level related to funding, centralized intake, coalition building, or infrastructure development