The families first program's relationship to children's school readiness

Abstract

‘Families First’ is a home visiting program implemented across the province of Manitoba, Canada. Public health nurses complete a psychosocial assessment as part of their follow up with postpartum families. This assessment determines if families are offered this voluntary home visiting service. The assessment data is entered into a database maintained by the Healthy Child Manitoba Office (HCMO). The hypothesis for this quantitative study was that a positive relationship exists between participation in the Family First program and children’s school readiness. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a tool developed and used across Manitoba by Kindergarten teachers to assess children’s school readiness. The Families First and EDI databases were linked, and multiple regression analysis models were applied. A marginal statistically significant positive relationship between the Family’s First program and school readiness was identified. Further research is necessary to understand and define the relationships.