Manuscript Detail | Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness

Zajac, L., Raby, K. L., & Dozier, M. (2019). Sustained effects on attachment security in middle childhood: Results from a randomized clinical trial of the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch‐up (ABC) intervention. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(4), 417–424. https://doi:10.1111/jcpp.13146

Manuscript screening details
Screening decision	Screening conclusion	HomVEE procedures and standards version
Passes screens	Eligible for review	Version 1

Study design details
Rating	Design	Attrition	Baseline equivalence	Compromised randomization	Confounding factors	Valid, reliable measure(s)
Moderate	Randomized controlled trial	High	Established on race/ethnicity and SES; outcome not feasible to assess at baseline	None	None	Not assessed in manuscripts reviewed before 2021

Notes:

This manuscript analyzes findings from the same randomized controlled trial as Bernard et al. (2012), and additional contextual information about the study is from this source. Information to establish baseline equivalence of the groups on socioeconomic status was based on correspondence with the author.

Study characteristics
Study participants	This randomized controlled trial (RCT) assigned parents to either ABC-Infant or a comparison home visiting program. Eligible families were those referred to Child Protective Services for risk of child maltreatment. At enrollment, children were younger than 2 years old. The follow-up was conducted when children were about 9 years old. The sample at follow-up included 100 children (44 in the ABC-Infant group and 56 in the comparison group). Characteristics of the ABC-Infant group (comparison group in parentheses) were as follows: 71 (68) percent of children were African American, 2 (13) percent were Caucasian, 21 (13) percent were biracial, 6 (6) percent were another race, and 21 (23) percent were Hispanic. Household income was less than $10,000 for 57 (66) percent of study families.
Setting	The study was conducted in a large mid-Atlantic city.
Intervention services	ABC-Infant, a brief parenting intervention consisting of 10 sessions each an hour long, occurred weekly in participants’ homes. Parent coaches conducted the sessions and provided parents with real-time feedback using videos of the sessions to highlight parenting strengths and weaknesses. The coaches also engaged parents in structured activities with their children and incorporated research findings in the information provided to the parents. The sessions focused on five topic areas: providing nurturance and interpreting child signals, responding in sensitive ways and delighting in the child, refraining from frightening behavior, identifying the parent’s personal challenges that may hinder nurturing parenting behavior, and consolidating the information and skills that parents learned.
Comparison conditions	Comparison families received Developmental Education for Families (DEF) in home visits that were the same duration (10 hour-long sessions) and frequency (weekly) as ABC-Infant. DEF was designed to enhance cognitive and linguistic development. For this study, the components related to promoting parental sensitivity or responsiveness were removed to distinguish it from ABC-Infant.
Subgroups examined	This field lists subgroups examined in the manuscript (even if they were not replicated in other samples and not reported on the summary page for this model’s report). Subgroups are not listed for manuscripts reviewed before 2021.
Funding sources	This research was supported by Award Numbers R01MH074374 and R01MH084135 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Author affiliation	Mary Dozier, one of the authors of the study, is a developer of the ABC home visiting program model.
Peer reviewed	Peer reviewed status is not listed for manuscripts reviewed before 2021.

Study Registration:

Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02093052. Study registration was assessed by HomVEE beginning with the 2014 review.

Findings that rate moderate or high

Child development and school readiness
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance	Notes
Moderate	Kerns Security Scale - Attachment security	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	ABC-Infant vs. DEF; Large mid-Atlantic city	Age 9	100 children	Unadjusted mean = 3.49	Unadjusted mean = 3.28	Mean difference = 0.21	HomVEE calculated = 0.46	Statistically significant, p= 0.02	Model does not include statistical controls.
Moderate	Kerns Security Scale - Attachment security	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	ABC-Infant vs. DEF; Large mid-Atlantic city	Age 9	100 children	Adjusted mean = 3.49	Adjusted mean = 3.28	Mean difference = 0.21	HomVEE calculated = 0.48	Statistically significant, p= 0.02	Model controls for receipt of financial assistance from the government.