The Home Visit Rating Scales: Revised, restructured, and revalidated

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Family Studies
• Program Evaluation

Background:

• Home visiting programs are crucial for early childhood development.
• Measuring the quality of home visits is essential for program effectiveness.
• Existing tools may lack comprehensive indicators of quality and engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To refine and validate the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS-3) for improved measurement of home-visit quality.
• To assess the reliability and validity of the HOVRS-3.
• To examine the relationship between home-visit quality and child outcomes.

Main Methods:

• The HOVRS-3 was developed with conceptual and structural improvements for clarity and usability.
• Newly trained observers assessed archived videos from Early Head Start programs using the HOVRS-3.
• Statistical analyses evaluated interrater reliability, internal consistency, convergent validity, predictive validity, and version stability.

Main Results:

• The HOVRS-3 demonstrated good interrater reliability, internal consistency, and validity.
• Higher HOVRS-3 quality scores were associated with improved parenting and child language development at age 3.
• These improvements were observed even after accounting for earlier parenting and language skills.

Conclusions:

• The HOVRS-3 is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing home-visit quality in early childhood programs.
• Improved home-visit quality, as measured by HOVRS-3, positively impacts parenting and child language outcomes.
• The HOVRS can guide practice improvements in home visiting to enhance family engagement and child development.