Association of family service needs and level of access difficulty with home visiting services: Oregon's findings from a survey of pregnant women and parents of young children

Background: As part of a multi-component home visiting needs assessment in 2011, a survey of pregnant women and parents of young children was conducted throughout Oregon. The survey asked about families' needs for 32 services and their level of difficulty accessing services. The analysis reported here examines differences between families who received home visiting and those who did not. Methods: The survey was completed by 4,628 respondents (2,375 received home visiting; 1,958 did not). Most respondents were recruited through WIC and home visiting programs and completed a paper survey; however, some respondents were reached through internet social media and completed an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis (principal components analysis) was used to extract a smaller set of factors from the 32 service items. For each factor, multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between (a) levels of need and access difficulty, and (b) receipt of home visiting services and demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, poverty level). Results: Families who received home visiting services reported more needs in all service factors except health care, but had less access difficulty across all 10 factors. Conclusions: Findings suggest that home visiting programs are serving families with substantial needs, and that they are likely successful in facilitating access to services. Although further confirmation is needed due to the use of cross-sectional data, the findings provide corroboration of positive outcomes reported in the home visiting literature and suggest that one mode of achieving outcomes may be through connecting families to needed services.