Predicting the effectiveness of the Home-Start parenting support program

The current study examines predictive effects of participant's characteristics, program characteristics, and their interaction, on changes in parenting behavior of mothers who participated in the Home-Start parenting support program. The results confirm previous findings that effects of participant's and program characteristics differ by outcome variable. Overall, participant's characteristics seemed to have little effect, suggesting that Home-Start is equally effective for all participants. The only program characteristic that affected changes in parenting behaviors (rejection and negative control) was the program intensity. However, the program characteristics influenced effectiveness in interaction with several participant's characteristics in predicting changes in maternal rejection, negative control, and sensitivity. In general, the program characteristics were more important for high than for low risk groups. These results stress the importance of examining interactions between participant's and program characteristics when studying the effects of family support programs.