Early childhood intervention in the community... Makes sense, but does it really work?

A team of researchers and decision makers led by Nazeem Muhajarine of SPHERU, are evaluating an existing population health promotion program in Saskatchewan, KidsFirst, to determine whether it has been effective in improving selected health and development outcomes.

Click here for reports and documents related to this research.

KidsFirst is an early childhood development intervention program that works at the family level to address multiple determinants of health: social support networks, personal health practices and coping skills, education, income and social services, and health services. By identifying and providing support to very vulnerable families with young children (beginning prenatally, up to five years of age), KidsFirst aims to reduce disparities in maternal and child health outcomes.

The evaluation will be carried out in three phases.

• In Phase 1, in consultation with program managers and staff, we developed a comprehensive evaluation framework that will enable communication about the program and guide subsequent evaluation activities.
  

• Phase 2 will consist of two parts: an analysis of existing quantitative data and comparison of KidsFirst participants to a reference population using secondary data, followed by qualitative case studies designed to enrich understanding of the quantitative findings.
  

• Finally, in Phase 3, we will integrate our findings, linking them to program goals and objectives and to the provincial context. Ultimately, through this research we hope to inform emerging knowledge on promising or best practices in early childhood intervention in Canada.

Investigators and Project Staff

Team members include: N. Muhajarine, A. Bowen, J. Glacken, K. Green, B. Jeffery, T. McIntosh, F. Macqueen Smith, D. Rosenbluth, G. Russell, N. Sari

• KidsFirst Research Administrator

Darrren Nickel 

 Saskatoon Office

Click here for a complete list of Investigators and Project Staff.

KidsFirst Project Reports and Documents

"The Saskatchewan Home Visiting Story" 

presented at the Early Childhood Development Forum: Exploring the Contribution of Public Health Home Visiting. October 14, 2008 in Saskatoon. National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health/National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.

KidsFirst Evaluation in Saskatchewan: A Progress Report 

N Muhajarine, D Nickel and KidsFirst Evaluation Team (A Bowen, J Glacken, K Green, B Jeffery, F Macqueen Smith, T McIntosh, D Rosenbluth, G Russell, N Sari)

KidsFirst Program Evaluation –Phase 1

Evaluation Framework (2007)

The Impact of KidsFirst Saskatoon Home Visiting Program in Families’ Lives

by Nadia Stadnyk, Nazeem Muhajarine, and Tammy J. Butler Community-University Institute for Social Research, 2005

KidsFirst Evaluation Poster