2016-2026
The Multi-Site Implementation Evaluation of Tribal Home Visiting (MUSE) is the first multi-site, multi-model study to systematically explore how home visiting programs are operating across diverse community contexts and to identify factors that lead to successful program implementation, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. This mixed methods evaluation will provide information to help the federal government design and support federal home visiting initiatives in tribal communities and similar populations. Additionally, the results of MUSE will help programs build on what is going well across programs to improve home visiting services for children and families.
In 2016, James Bell Associates, in partnership with the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Center, was funded to conduct a multi-site implementation study of Tribal Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV), with an option to develop and implement a modified version of the MUSE study with state MIECHV-funded local implementing agencies (LIAs) that serve American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) families. That option was initiated in 2021. The two study threads within MUSE parallel the two different granting mechanisms by which MIECHV serves AIAN families: (1) MUSE for Tribal MIECHV (MUSE-THV) and (2) MUSE for State-Tribal Collaborations (MUSE-STC). Both study threads utilize community engagement processes throughout the study design and planning, data collection, analysis and dissemination phases.
MUSE-THV addresses the following three aims: (1) Identify and describe primary influences shaping tribal home visiting planning; (2) Identify and describe how tribal home visiting programs are being implemented; and (3) Explore supports and challenges to home visiting implementation in tribal communities. Quantitative and qualitative data have been collected from home visiting staff and participants over a two-and-a-half year period, including a pause in data collection for five months at the start of the covid-19 pandemic. Data collection methods include qualitative interviews and surveys of program staff and participants, program implementation logs, administrative program data, short surveys completed after individual home visits, and content analysis of grantee implementation plans.
The analytic approach used by MUSE-THV intentionally mixes data across sources and uses iterative analytic processes to ensure that data being collected by MUSE grantee partners will produce rich findings that are useful. The MUSE Team will convene a dissemination committee, including representatives from all participating grantees, to provide input into the development of study reports, presentations, and publications.
MUSE-STC was initiated in 2021 and addresses this study aim: Explore the collaborations between state awardees and tribal communities and their influence on planning and implementation of home visiting services. MUSE-STC will use a rigorous case study design to understand state-tribal partnerships from the perspectives of MIECHV-supported staff at the state and local levels. If the option to expand the focus of MUSE-STC is selected, an additional aim may be to explore how all state awardees plan and implement services to AIAN families within their states.
Point(s) of contact: Aleta Meyer and Nicole Denmark.
This study is registered on researchregistry.com under the title Multi-Site Implementation Evaluation of Tribal Home Visiting (MUSE) .
Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB # 0970-0521. Related materials are available at the View ICR — OIRA Conclusion page on RegInfo.gov .
The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.