Evaluation of Healthy Families Massachusetts

MHFE Phase 2 (MHFE-2)

While the findings from the first evaluation phase (MHFE-1) were promising, the quasi-experimental design precluded our being able to definitively attribute positive outcomes to the HFM program.

The Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund and Tufts University have now embarked on a second and more rigorous phase of evaluation of the HFM program (MHFE-2).: This six-year randomized, controlled trial (RCT), for which data collection began in February 2008, consists of two main components: the Impact Study, through its experimental design, will illuminate the net outcomes that HFM has yielded for its participants. The more focused Integrative Study will elucidate the multi-level influences (e.g., community context, program character, individual mental health challenges and school experiences, etc.) in the lives of participants that move them along their particular developmental trajectories, as they transition both to parenthood and adulthood. Increased attention to the community ecology in which these HFM programs operate also are being integrated into this second cohort study as the Program Community Study.

Downloads:

• MHFE-2 Annual Report to MCTF, FY10
• MHFE-2 Annual Report to MCTF, FY09