New Parent Support Program Evaluation

NCT ID: NCT05236192

Last Updated: 2025-10-08

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

341 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-02-17

Study Completion Date

2025-08-07

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to perform a program evaluation of the Navy and Marine Corps' New Parent Support Program (NPSP) home-visiting option. Both the Navy and Marine Corps have decided to pilot the Take Root Home Visitation (TRHV) curriculum, which is an evidence-informed, standardized program, with clients receiving NPSP home visits. This study is designed to examine the implementation and program effectiveness of TRHV compared to services as usual (SAU). Program outcomes include child development, parenting behaviors, child maltreatment risk and protective factors, and child maltreatment incidents. Implementation outcomes include clinicians' and clients' satisfaction with the program, clinicians' fidelity to the program delivery model, and clients' engagement with the program.

Detailed Description

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The Navy and Marine Corps' NPSP home visiting option assists families who are at risk for child abuse and neglect by providing those families with home visitation by a trained professional (e.g., licensed clinical social worker, nurse). The ultimate goal of NPSP home visiting is to promote strong parenting practices and healthy families by providing parents with skills to foster child development and well-being. Families, expecting a child and with children up to age three, participating in the NPSP home visiting services at select military installations will be recruited for a cluster randomized controlled effectiveness-implementation hybrid Type 2 design program evaluation, which simultaneously tests the implementation and client related outcomes of a program (Curran et al., 2012).

Rigorous program evaluations of Navy and Marine Corps NPSP home visiting services are lacking. In fact, only one published study evaluating Navy NPSP could be located (Kelley et al., 2006). While the results of Kelley et al.'s (2006) study were generally positive, it was a single-group retrospective design that did not assess implementation outcomes or program outcomes related to child maltreatment. Thus, that study's ability to inform NPSP home visiting services is limited. Further, findings from past analyses of Army NPSP offered no evidence that NPSP services directly prevent child abuse and neglect (Kaye, Faber, Schiavone, \& Perkins, 2016). Among the general U.S. population, research findings are mixed with regard to the effectiveness of home visiting programs for preventing child maltreatment (Howard \& Brooks-Gunn, 2009; Kaminski, Valle, Filene, \& Boyle, 2008). However, the available evidence does indicate that these programs can positively alter parenting practices.

Without a rigorous, experimental evaluation, it is difficult to assess whether the Navy's and Marine Corps' NPSP service as usual (SAU) is having the intended impacts on participating families. Further, the both Services are interested in exploring the utility of delivering the Take Root Home Visitation (TRHV) program. TRHV is a newly developed, evidence-informed, secondary, home-visiting prevention program developed by researchers at the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy. TRHV has not been evaluated within the context of the Navy or Marine Corps. TRHV has been implemented with the Army as part of the Clearinghouse's three-phase evaluation of Army NPSP. Though the final report is still forthcoming, a preliminary report on program implementation showed that home visitors found TRHV to be acceptable and were able to implement the program with fidelity (Kaye et al., 2021). Moreover, parents receiving TRHV reported high levels of satisfaction with the program and stayed in NPSP services longer than parents receiving SAU (Kaye et al., 2021).

The extent to which the Army TRHV implementation findings generalize to the Navy and Marine Corps is unclear. Additionally, it is unclear to what extent TRHV will impact program outcomes, especially when compared to SAU. This study is designed to help bring clarity to these issues.

Conditions

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Child Maltreatment

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

A cluster randomized control trial effectiveness-implementation hybrid type 2 design will be used. Navy and Marine Corps installations participating in this study will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: TRHV and SAU. Families receiving NPSP home visiting services will be administered TRHV or SAU depending upon the assignment of their installation.
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Take Root Home Visitation (TRHV)

TRHV is an evidence-informed, manualized home-visiting curriculum.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Take Root Home Visitation (TRHV)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

TRHV is a home-visiting, standardized program that home visitors can use to structure their time spent with families during home visits.

Services as Usual (SAU)

SAU involves the current standard of care implemented at the participating Navy and Marine Corps installations.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Services as Usual (SAU)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

SAU includes an installation's current NPSP home visiting practice, which may vary across the installations participating in this study.

Interventions

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Take Root Home Visitation (TRHV)

TRHV is a home-visiting, standardized program that home visitors can use to structure their time spent with families during home visits.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Services as Usual (SAU)

SAU includes an installation's current NPSP home visiting practice, which may vary across the installations participating in this study.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* 18+ years old
* Stationed at one of the participating military installations
* Active duty, retired, National Guard or Reserves service member or spouse/partner
* Pregnant or have a child 0-3-years-old
* Eligible to receive NPSP home-visiting services
* Speak and understand English proficiently


* 18+ years old
* Working at one of the participating military installations as a NPSP home visitor
* Speak and understand English proficiently


* Children of active duty, retired, National Guard or Reserves service member or spouse/partner receiving NPSP home-visiting services
* 0-3-years-old

Exclusion Criteria

* Younger than 18 years of age
* Not stationed at one of the participating military installations
* Not an active duty, retired, National Guard or Reserves service member or spouse/partner
* Not currently pregnant or the parent of a child 0-3-years-old
* Not eligible for NPSP home-visiting services
* Does not speak or understand English proficiently


* Younger than 18 years of age
* Not employed at one of the participating military installations as a NPSP home visitor
* Does not speak or understand English proficiently


* Not the child of an active duty, retired, National Guard or Reserves service member or spouse/partner receiving NPSP home-visiting services
* Older than 3 years of age
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

FED

Sponsor Role collaborator

Penn State University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Ryan Chesnut

Assistant Research Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Ryan P Chesnut, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

The Pennsylvania State University

Daniel F Perkins, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

The Pennsylvania State University

Locations

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The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Kelley, M. L., Schwerin, M. J., Farrar, K. L., & Lane, M. E. (2006). A participant evaluation of the U.S. Navy parent support program. Journal of Family Violence, 21, 301-310. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-006-9031-5

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Kaye, M. P., Faber, A., Schiavone, W., & Perkins, D. F. (2016). New Parent Support Program Engagement Phase II Final Report. University Park, PA: Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Kaye, M. P., Ferrara, A. M., Abram-Erby, G., Kotch, R., Gernon, S., & Perkins, D. F. (2021, April). Take Root Home Visitation implementation: Army New Parent Support Program (NPSP) EIII. University Park, PA: Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Kaminski JW, Valle LA, Filene JH, Boyle CL. A meta-analytic review of components associated with parent training program effectiveness. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2008 May;36(4):567-89. doi: 10.1007/s10802-007-9201-9. Epub 2008 Jan 19.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18205039 (View on PubMed)

Howard KS, Brooks-Gunn J. The role of home-visiting programs in preventing child abuse and neglect. Future Child. 2009 Fall;19(2):119-46. doi: 10.1353/foc.0.0032.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19719025 (View on PubMed)

Curran GM, Bauer M, Mittman B, Pyne JM, Stetler C. Effectiveness-implementation hybrid designs: combining elements of clinical effectiveness and implementation research to enhance public health impact. Med Care. 2012 Mar;50(3):217-26. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e3182408812.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 22310560 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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STUDY00019356

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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