Impact of HIPPY on home learning environments of Latino families

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.01.002Get rights and content

Abstract

This study investigated effects of Home Instruction of Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a paraprofessional home visiting program, on parents and children. The program site served low-income, Spanish-speaking families. On average, mothers were 31 years old (SD = 4.78) and children were 3 or 4 years old (M = 3.92, SD = .92). Participants (n = 54) had more parenting self-efficacy and more enriched home environments than families on a waiting list (n = 54). In a regression on home environment, participation in the intervention was a stronger predictor than maternal education, depression, and stress. A third-grade follow-up of children in the program showed significantly higher math achievement when compared to low-income Latino third graders in the same school district. These findings appear to validate the HIPPY model, which suggests that parents gain confidence as their children's teachers through their experiences in the program. HIPPY successfully addresses the need for culturally sensitive programming aimed at improving educational achievement among minority children.

Research highlights

► This study investigated effects of Home Instruction of Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a paraprofessional home visiting program, on parents and children. ► Participation in the intervention was a stronger predictor than maternal education, depression, and stress. ► A third-grade follow-up of children in the program showed significantly higher math achievement when compared to low-income Latino third graders in the same school district, which validates the HIPPY model. ► HIPPY successfully addresses the need for culturally sensitive programming aimed at improving educational achievement among minority children.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants in the study resided within a diverse urban school district in the Southwest. A quasi-experimental research design was used in the study. Two different cohorts were studied. In Cohort 1, study participants in a home observation and survey included randomly selected mothers and preschool children (n = 108) from families participating in HIPPY (n = 54) and a comparison group of families on a waiting list for HIPPY (n = 54). The average age of the children was 3 years and 11 months; 54% of

Preliminary analyses

Preliminary analyses of data from the first cohort included intercorrelations among study variables, means, and standard deviations, as shown in Table 1. Parenting stress was associated with less parenting efficacy and higher levels of depressive symptoms. Overall, mothers with higher home environment scores were less depressed, less stressed as a parent, and reported more parental self-efficacy.

Demographic characteristics of participant and control groups were compared with the independent

Discussion

Findings from the present study indicate that HIPPY, a home visiting intervention program for mothers of young children, has a positive effect on the home environment of preschoolers from Spanish-speaking homes as well as the math achievement of these children in third grade. Intervention participation predicted more cognitive stimulation in the home environment, even when controlling for contextual factors unrelated to the intervention. Furthermore, mothers in the HIPPY program developed more

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by a grant from the Timberlawn Psychiatric Foundation.

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