Positive impacts on child development of a home visiting program in Santiago del Estero, Argentina (2022–2023)

Abstract

The present paper evaluates the impact of a home visiting program aimed at training mothers in aspects of stimulation of their 0–3-year-old children in contexts of social vulnerability in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. This program was carried out by the Asociación Civil Haciendo Camino (ACHC) with mothers participating in the program who were trained and supervised by health professionals within the framework of a comprehensive intervention. The evaluation was conducted through a difference-in-differences (DiD) method between a treatment group and a control group and two measurements over time with a six-month lapse of intervention. The measurements were made with the tool Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3), which assesses five areas of child development. In addition, sociodemographic, socioeconomic and parenting aspects were surveyed to estimate heterogeneous effects. The results of the present study indicate that the program achieved positive and significant effects in three areas of child development (communication, fine motor skills and problem solving), and positive but not significant effects in two other areas (gross motor skills and personal-social development). Among the positive heterogeneous effects, the increase in the child’s age and the mother’s age in different dimensions of development under the effects of the reference program stand out. These results add evidence on the relevance of early childhood stimulation programs in contexts of social vulnerability.