Manuscript Details

Families were recruited to the study between November 1994 and December 1995. Hawaii Healthy Start Program staff screened the medical records of mothers from one of four Oahu communities delivering children at Kapiolani Maternity Hospital for risk factors for child abuse and neglect. Mothers found to be at risk, or those whose records did not contain sufficient information to screen out, were screened further using the Kempe Family Stress Checklist; eligible families were those in which either parent scored 25 or greater (Duggan, 2004a). Of the 897 families who were eligible to participate in the study, 730 (81%) agreed to participate and were randomly assigned to the program group (n = 395), the main comparison group (n = 290), or a testing comparison group (n = 45). 684 families completed a baseline interview (373 families in the program group, 270 families in the main comparison group, and 41 in the testing group comparison). On average, at baseline, mothers were 23.7 years of age (program group) and 23.3 years of age (comparison group). 63% (program group) and 67% (comparison group) of participating families lived below the poverty line. The racial composition of the program group was 34% native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 28% Asian or Filipino, 10% Caucasian, and 27% of unknown primary ethnicity. The main comparison group consisted of 33% native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 28% Asian or Filipino, 14% Caucasian, and 26% of unknown primary ethnicity. This study reports results from the three follow-ups of the Hawaii Healthy Start randomized controlled trial. In each follow-up year, interviews were completed for 88% of families. 81% of participating families completed all three follow-up interviews.