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	New Chance Demonstration: Recommendations

Recommendations

National Head Start Impact Study: Evaluating Head Start: A Recommended Framework for Studying the Impact of the Program (First Report to Congress) (10/01/99)

"Programs may wish to make one or more staff members specifically responsible for following up with and helping to resolve problems confronting participants in off-site activities, including employment" (20). "The unsuccessful record of New Chance and other demonstration programs in reducing rates of repeat pregnancy and childbearing among young women who are already mothers suggests that programs face a daunting challenge in achieving behavior change in this area. Programs would do well, however, to make available and encourage the use of longer-acting contraceptives, such as Norplant or Depo-Provera" (20). "Program staff need to be aware of the high risk of depression in this population, of the debilitating effects of this mental health problem, and of the resources for treatment, including medication when appropriate. They also should be familiar with community resources for treating substance abuse, helping domestic violence victims, and dealing with other problems" (20). "Frequent changes in child care arrangements are likely to have harmful effects on children. Program staff should help participants make child care arrangements that will be flexible enough to accommodate the mothers’ needs as they move through various phases of the program and into subsequent employment" (20).

New Chance Demonstration: Parenting Behavior in a Sample of Young Mothers in Poverty: Results of the New Chance Observational Study (04/01/98)

“Researchers faced with choices about the measures and methods to employ in studying parenting and child outcomes require a framework for making decisions about study design. As discussed in Chapter 14 of the monograph, such a framework can encompass both methodological and substantive considerations. Methodological considerations include feasibility and data quality. Based on the New Chance Observational Study, as well as other work, we conclude that developmentalists can draw on a methodological repertoire within a survey framework that includes maternal self-reports on parenting, interviewer ratings, cognitive assessments of children, interviews with children, and administration of observational protocols. The availability of such a broad range of measurement techniques means that researchers can assemble a "balanced portfolio" of measures that spread the measurement "risk" across methods having different strengths and vulnerabilities.”

“The overarching substantive consideration in asking whether to include observational work within this portfolio is the "value added" of the observational data. Such work could be undertaken as part of a freestanding study, in which all participants provide both self-reported data, perhaps enhanced by interviewer observations, and observational data. Or observational work could be embedded within a larger survey effort, as was the case in this study. In considering the embedded model, the "analytical leverage" provided by the observational data is a consideration. If the subsample participating in the observational component of the study is selected randomly, it is possible to generalize to the larger sample, and/or to the population from which it was drawn, through statistical weighting procedures. Other potential analytical strategies include using the richness of the observational measures to help in interpreting data from other sources, including assessing how much confidence to place in other measures that are potentially subject to different method effects. Finally, observational measures from a subsample may be used to augment quantitative survey findings.”

Researchers, however, should not expect to find a single decision rule for determining when observational research within a survey model is warranted. Every study is different. Survey-based observational work makes sense when it serves well-articulated analytical objectives and is conceptualized as an integral part of an overall research design. If resources are available and the potential added value of observational measures is clear for a particular study, the observational method is a valuable adjunct to more conventional survey approaches.”

New Chance Demonstration: Promises to Keep: Assessing Affective and Behavioral Qualities of Mother-Child Relationships in the New Chance Observational Study (06/01/98)

“The findings of positive impacts on mother-child relationships in New Chance are impressive, if modest in magnitude. Accompanying these positive impacts, however, are some cautionary notes about intervening with young mothers on welfare. Although mothers and interviewers perceived that intervention mothers were more warm and supportive than control mothers, the observational coding did not find overall differences on more positive indices of parenting. Subgroup analyses on the observational coding revealed that lower-risk subgroups may have made some gains on positive relationship indicators through New Chance. Subgroup analyses also indicated, however, that higher-risk subgroups may have been overwhelmed by New Chance, and some disruption in mother-child relationships may have ensued. The intensive nature of the New Chance Program may have had different impacts across families depending on the particular strengths and burdens of the families at baseline. If we wish to maximize the effectiveness of programs, we need to investigate how family characteristics determine who benefits from particular types of intervention”(18).

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