Background
The Families and Children Thriving (FACT) Study is a HRSA-funded, ongoing panel investigation of risk and resilience among nearly 2,000 low-income families that have received home visiting services through Wisconsin’s Family Foundations Home Visiting (FFHV) program. ICFW is gathering multiple waves of survey data to assess child, caregiver, and household outcomes, including physical and mental health, adversity and social support, parenting, and child development.
Additionally, a survey is conducted annually with FFHV program staff. Staff include direct service providers, supervisors, and administrators. Since 2015, the FACT Study has been used to collect staff survey data, and it is embedded in the FFHV Program’s routine evaluation and dissemination. In 2016, a second version of the annual survey was introduced to assess staff who have completed the initial version of the survey. In addition to describing staff demographics, the surveys ask questions about an array of topics such as work experience, professional development, supervision, direct practices, perceptions of work environment, burnout, secondary trauma, adverse childhood experiences, health and well-being, and self-care. To date, 536 FFHV program staff have completed at least one survey.
Results from the FACT Study are shared with federal and state partners to support the ongoing evaluation of the Family Foundations Home Visiting program and with home visiting staff to support continuous program quality improvement.
Learn More
FACT Study Measures
Client Survey
Staff Survey
FACT Publications
Gómez, A. Mersky, J. P., Plummer Lee, C., Zhang, L., Shlafer, R. J., & Jackson, D. B. (2023). The long arm of maternal incarceration: Indirect associations with children’s social-emotional development. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal.
Mersky, J. P., Plummer Lee, C., & Jackson, D. B. (2023). Life course adversity and sleep disturbance among low-income women with young children. Sleep Health.
Mersky, J. P., Plummer Lee, C., & Janczewski, C. E. (in press). Adverse adult experiences and health outcomes: Racial and ethnic differences in a low-income sample. Stress & Health.
Janczewski, C. E., & Mersky, J. P. (2022). Secondary traumatic stress among home visiting professionals. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication.
Choi, C., Mersky, J. P., & Janczewski, C. E. (2022). Advancing research on perinatal depression trajectories: Evidence from a longitudinal study of low-income women. Journal of Affective Disorders, 301, 44-51.
Zhang, L., Mersky, J. P., & Plummer Lee, C. (2022). Intergenerational pathways linking mothers’ adverse childhood experiences and children’s social-emotional problems. Child Abuse & Neglect. Advance online publication.
Janczewski, C. E., Mersky, J. P., & Plummer Lee, C. (2021). A brief measure of workplace environment for health and human service professionals. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance.
Mersky, J. P., Plummer Lee, C., Janczewski, C. E. (2021). Toward the assessment of adverse adult experiences: A validation study of the Adult Experiences Survey. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
Gilbert, R., Mersky, J. P., & Plummer Lee, C. (2021). Prevalence and correlates of vaccine hesitancy in a sample of low-income mothers. Preventive Medicine Reports, 21, 101292.
Choi, C., Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C. E., Plummer Lee, C., Davies, W. H., & Lang, A. C. (2020). Validity of an expanded assessment of adverse childhood experiences: A replication study. Children and Youth Services Review, 117, 105216.
Mersky, J. P., Plummer Lee, C., Gilbert, R. M., Goyal, D. (2020). Prevalence and correlates of maternal and infant sleep problems in a low-income US sample. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 24(2), 196-203.
Mersky, J. P., & Plummer Lee, C. (2019). Adverse childhood experiences and poor birth outcomes in a diverse, low-income sample. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 19(387), 1-7.
Mersky, J. P., Plummer Lee, C., & Gilbert, R. M. (2019). Client and provider discomfort with an adverse childhood experiences survey. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 57(2), e51-e58.
Mersky, J. P., & Janczewski, C. E. (2018). Adverse childhood experiences and postpartum depression in home visiting programs: Prevalence, association, and mediating mechanisms. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 22(7), 1051-1058.
Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C. E., & Nitkowski, J. C. (2018). Pathways to poor mental health among low-income women in the U.S.: Exploring the role of adverse childhood and adult experiences. Social Science and Medicine, 206, 14-21.
Mersky, J. P., & Janczewski, C. E. (2018). Racial and ethnic differences in the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences: Findings from a low-income sample of US women. Child Abuse & Neglect, 76, 480-487.
Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C. E., & Topitzes, J. (2017). Rethinking the measurement of adversity: Moving toward second-generation research on adverse childhood experiences. Child Maltreatment, 22(1), 58-68.
