Impact Evaluation of MotherWise Program

Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services - Impact Evaluation of MotherWise Program

Mathematica was awarded a contract by ACF to conduct the evaluation of selected grantees offering Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Programs.This particular evaluation will focus on the University of Denver's MotherWise program, which offers relationship education and other supports to low-income women expecting a baby. The program has three core components: (1) 18 hours of core workshop sessions using the Within My Reach relationship education curriculum supplemented with content on mother-infant relationships; (2) case management services; and (3) optional relationship education workshops for couples. The evaluation will test the effect of this full package of services on mothers' relationship outcomes, as well as other outcomes related to child well-being, such as co-parenting and father involvement.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Parenting; Mother-Child Relations; Family Relations; Marriage
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: MotherWise Program

Detailed Description

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is conducting an evaluation of healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs. Mathematica was awarded a contract by ACF to conduct the evaluation of selected programs/grantees.This segment of the larger evaluation will focus on the University of Denver's MotherWise program.

The Mother Wise program will offer relationship education and other supports to low-income women expecting a baby. The program will have three core components: (1) 18 hours of core workshop sessions using the Within My Reach relationship education curriculum supplemented with content on mother-infant relationships; (2) case management services; and (3) optional relationship education workshops for couples. The evaluation will test the effect of this full package of services on mothers' relationship outcomes, as well as other outcomes related to child well-being, such as co-parenting and father involvement. If feasible, the evaluation will also examine some measures available through hospital records, such as birth weight.

Mother Wise will enroll women who are expecting a baby and those who have had a baby within the past month.

Control group members will not be eligible for Mother Wise but will be eligible for other services available in the community.

To document the outcomes of study participants, survey data will be collected at two time points: (1) a baseline survey administered at study enrollment, a (2) a 12-month follow-up survey, and (3) a 30-month follow-up survey. Surveys will be conducted by staff at Mathematica's Survey Operations Center using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Survey data may be supplemented with administrative records data from the Denver Health system.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 953
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Colorado
    • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80208
      • University of Denver

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

To be eligible, women must be expecting a baby or had a baby in the past 3 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

To be eligible, women must not be incarcerated.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MotherWise Programming; Three components: (1) 18 hours of core workshop sessions using the Within My Reach relationship education curriculum supplemented with content on mother-infant relationships; (2) case management services; and (3) optional relationship education workshops for couples.	Behavioral: MotherWise Program; Healthy Marriage or Relationship Education services for pregnant women.
No Intervention: Control; No program services

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived romantic relationship skills	Six-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	1 year after random assignment
Perceived romantic relationship skills	Six-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	30 months after random assignment
Perceived conflict management skills	Five-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	1 year after random assignment
Perceived conflict management skills	Five-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	30 months after random assignment
Support for going slow in romantic relationships	One-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	1 year after random assignment
Support for going slow in romantic relationships	One-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	30 months after random assignment
Disapproval of couple violence	Five-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	1 year after random assignment
Disapproval of couple violence	Five-item scale (ranges from 1 to 4)	30 months after random assignment
Any psychological abuse	A binary variable equal to 1 if the mother indicates that a romantic partner has subjected her to psychological abuse in the past year.	1 year after random assignment
Any psychological abuse	A binary variable equal to 1 if the mother indicates that a romantic partner has subjected her to psychological abuse in the past year.	30 months after random assignment
Any physical abuse	A binary variable equal to 1 if the mother indicates that a romantic partner has pushed, shoved, kicked, punched or beaten her up in the past year.	1 year after random assignment
Any physical abuse	A binary variable equal to 1 if the mother indicates that a romantic partner has pushed, shoved, kicked, punched or beaten her up in the past year.	30 months after random assignment
Had an unintended pregnancy since program enrollment	A binary variable equal to 1 if the mother reported having had an unintended pregnancy since random assignment.	1 year after random assignment
Had an unintended pregnancy since program enrollment	A binary variable equal to 1 if the mother reported having had an unintended pregnancy since random assignment.	30 months after random assignment
Quality of co-parenting relationship with baby's father	Ten-item scale (ranges from 0 to 10)	1 year after random assignment
Quality of co-parenting relationship with baby's father	Ten-item scale (ranges from 0 to 10)	30 months after random assignment
Depressive symptoms	Eight-item scale (ranges from 0 to 24; based on PHQ-8)	1 year after random assignment
Depressive symptoms	Eight-item scale (ranges from 0 to 24; based on PHQ-8)	30 months after random assignment
Number of relationship transitions	This is a continuous variable representing the number of relationship transitions the mother reported since random assignment. A relationship transition occurs each time a romantic relationship begins or ends.	30 months after random assignment
Material hardship	This continuous variable ranges from 0 to 6 and reflects how many of six possible things a mother had done in the past year because she did not have enough money.	30 months after random assignment
Child social-emotional and behavioral problems	This 31-item scale is a measure of the child's social-emotional and behavioral problems with higher scores indicating more problems.	30 months after random assignment
Child social-emotional abilities	This 11-item scale is a measure of the child's social-emotional abilities-such as empathy, prosocial behaviors, and compliance-with higher scores indicating higher competence.	30 months after random assignment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Collaborators: Department of Health and Human Services
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Robert Wood, PhD, Mathematica Policy Research

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 25, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 1, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): June 7, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 25, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 20, 2022
• Last Verified: February 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: MPR-50098-UD

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: Restricted use files will be made available to researchers via the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Mid-2022
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Yet to be determined