Healthy Child Manitoba

Provincial Program Evaluations

Provincial program evaluations provide information for cross-sectoral policy and program decision-making. Building on the findings from a small number of intensively studied research sites (Families First, Healthy Baby), provincial programs are extensively evaluated in multiple sites with a large number of families, using quantitative data collection and analysis. Results of provincial program evaluations provide information on program effectiveness, key program components and program efficiency, toward program improvement. Provincial program evaluations assess and provide knowledge on cross-sectoral outcomes for the HCM goals for children (improved physical and emotional health, safety and security, learning success, and social engagement and responsibility).

Healthy Child Manitoba Supports the following provincial program evaluations:

 

Families First Home VIsiting Program (2000 to 2008)

The aim of this evaluation was to determine if the well-being of at-risk families was improved by participating in Manitoba’s Families First home visiting program. The Families First home visiting program provides services to families who want parenting supports. Home visiting programs have been evaluated in highly structured and supervised conditions.  Little research has been done to show that these services are effective when implemented under real-world service delivery conditions.

Questionnaires were completed at four months, one year and then annually for another four years. Parents were asked about parenting skills, psychological well-being, social support, neighborhoods, children’s development, whether they read to their children, and other services they are using.  The report will be available shortly.

Families First Program Evaluation Report | February 2010

Families First Program Evaluation Highlights | April 2005

Add MCHP 2005 Report

 

Healthy Baby: 2004-present

Healthy Baby programs are prenatal and postnatal support programs that offer social, informal learning opportunities to encourage early, regular prenatal care and promote healthy infant development. The formal evaluation of the Healthy Baby Program started June 1, 2004. The evaluation consists of the requirement for programs to collect data about program participants as well as activities at their program sessions and submit this information to Healthy Child Manitoba. As of December 4, 2009, 17559 participants had been served by Healthy Baby programs.

Learn more about the Healthy Baby program:

Healthy Baby Participant Characteristics | December 2009

Healthy Baby Program Attendance Report | December 2009

Healthy Baby Infant Feeding Report | December 2009

Healthy Baby Satisfaction Report | December 2009

 

Healthy Schools

Healthy Child Manitoba supports community capacity through Manitoba’s Healthy Schools initiative. Healthy Schools is Manitoba’s school health initiative designed to promote the physical, emotional and social health of school communities. It is based on the belief that good health is important for learning and that schools are in a unique position to have a positive influence on the health of children, youth and their families.

Healthy Schools Evaluation Report | Download
[I cannot find a final report on the shared folder]

 

Manitoba Centre for Healthy Policy (MCHP) Healthy Baby Deliverable: In process

In June 2001, Healthy Child Manitoba introduced the Healthy Baby Program – a 2-part benefit program to improve birth and early outcomes for infants born to low SES moms.  The program includes: a prenatal income supplement and community supports.  Some mothers received only the income supplement, some only the community supports and some both components of the program.  Preliminary analyses suggest that the prenatal income supplement alone did not improve outcomes for infants and their moms.  It is hypothesized that those receiving the income benefit as well as participating in the community support program will have significantly better outcomes than those receiving the income supplement alone, the community supports alone, or those not participating (using pre-Healthy Baby years for this final comparison).  Outcomes to be analyzed include: maternal indicators such as number of prenatal visits, month of initiation of prenatal visits, and maternal depression in year after birth; infant indicators such as birth weight, gestation, feeding status (breastfed or not), Apgar scores, hospitalizations in first year, immunizations in first year, continuity of care.

 

Parent Child Coalition Process Evaluation

The Parent Child Coalition Process Evaluation was first initiated in 2003, and was expanded to include a province-wide survey of Coalition members in 2005. The results of the 2005 survey provide information on the experiences of Coalition members, including their perspectives on membership ownership and involvement, membership skill level and expertise, and coalition functioning.

View Parent Child Coalition Process Evaluation Report | 2005  

Roots of Empathy

From 2002 to 2006 Manitoba conducted a randomized control trial and longitudinal follow-up to determine the real world effectiveness of the ROE program, as delivered under routine conditions of practice in school divisions. The results demonstrated that ROE decreased students’ physical aggression and indirect aggression, and increased students’ pro-social behaviour immediately after program completion. Follow-up results demonstrated that these beneficial effects were maintained or continued to improve up to three years after ROE program completion. Based on these rigorous evaluation results, ROE has continued to expand across the province, with ongoing monitoring of program fidelity and student outcomes.

Read more about Roots of Empathy in Manitoba
Learn more about the Roots of Empathy Evaluation