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Strengthen the Evidence for Maternal and Child Health Programs

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Evidence Tools
MCHbest. Adequate Insurance.

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Strategy. Outreach Using Parent Mentors

Approach. Use trained parent mentors to assist families with getting insurance coverage, accessing health care, and addressing social determinants of health

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Overview. Parent mentors are a special category of community health workers in which parents who have children with particular health conditions/risks leverage their relevant experience, along with training, to support other parents of children with the same health conditions/risks. Parents of children from racial and ethnic minority groups (e.g., Latino) leverage their own experiences to mentor other parents. Using community case managers training, parent mentors are trained to assist families in getting insurance coverage, access health care, and address social determinants of health.[1,2]

Evidence. Moderate Evidence. Strategies with this rating are likely to work. These strategies have been tested more than once and results trend positive overall; however, further research is needed to confirm effects, especially with multiple population groups. These strategies also trend positive in combination with other strategies. (Clarifying Note: The WWFH database calls this "some evidence").

Access the peer-reviewed evidence through the MCH Digital Library or related evidence source. (Read more about understanding evidence ratings).

Source. What Works for Health (WWFH) Database (County Health Rankings and Roadmaps)

Outcome Components. This strategy has shown to have impact on the following outcomes (Read more about these categories):

  • Social Determinants of Health. This strategy advances economic, social, and environmental factors that affect health outcomes. SDOH include the conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
  • Health Outcomes. This strategy helps contribute to reducing avoidable differences among socioeconomic and demographic groups or geographical areas in health status and health outcomes such as disease, disability, or mortality.
  • Utilization. This strategy improves the extent to which individuals and communities use available healthcare services.

Detailed Outcomes. For specific outcomes related to each study supporting this strategy, access the peer-reviewed evidence and read the Intervention Results for each study.

Intervention Type. Consultation (Read more about intervention types and levels as defined by the Public Health Intervention Wheel).

Intervention Level. Community-Focused

Examples from the Field. Access descriptions of ESMs that use this strategy directly or intervention components that align with this strategy. You can use these ESMs to see how other Title V agencies are addressing the NPM.

Sample ESMs. Here are sample ESMs to use as models for your own measures using the Results-Based Accountability framework (for suggestions on how to develop programs to support this strategy, see The Role of Title V in Adapting Strategies).

Quadrant 1:
Measuring Quantity of Effort ("What/how much did we do?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Number of parent mentors recruited and trained to assist families with insurance enrollment (measures workforce development)
  • Number of families connected with parent mentors for insurance navigation assistance (assesses program reach)

Quadrant 2:
Measuring Quality of Effort ("How well did we do it?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Percent of parent mentors who complete comprehensive training on insurance navigation and healthcare access (measures preparation quality)
  • Percent of families who maintain consistent contact with their assigned parent mentor (assesses service engagement)

Quadrant 3:
Measuring Quantity of Effect ("Is anyone better off?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Number of partnerships established between parent mentor programs and healthcare providers (builds referral networks)
  • Number of resource guides developed by parent mentors to support families in navigating insurance systems (creates tools for sustainability)

OUTCOME MEASURES:

  • Number of children who obtain health insurance coverage with parent mentor assistance (demonstrates direct impact on coverage)
  • Number of children who establish a medical home after parent mentor intervention (shows impact on healthcare access)

Quadrant 4:
Measuring Quality of Effect ("How are they better off?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Percent of eligible families in the target community reached by the parent mentor program (measures population coverage)
  • Percent of healthcare providers reporting improved communication with families supported by parent mentors (assesses system improvements)

OUTCOME MEASURES:

  • Percent increase in preventive care visits among children assisted by parent mentors (reflects impact on healthcare utilization)
  • Percent reduction in missed appointments among families working with parent mentors (captures improved healthcare engagement)

Note. When looking at your ESMs, SPMs, or other strategies:

  1. Move from measuring quantity to quality.
  2. Move from measuring effort to effect.
  3. Quadrant 1 strategies should be used sparingly, when no other data exists.
  4. The most effective measurement combines strategies in all levels, with most in Quadrants 2 and 4.

Learn More. Read how to create stronger ESMs and how to measure ESM impact more meaningfully through Results-Based Accountability.

References

1 Flores G, Lin H, Walker C, Lee M, Currie JM, Allgeyer R, Fierro M, Henry M, Portillo A, Massey K. Parent mentors and insuring uninsured children: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics. 2016 Apr 1;137(4).

2 Flores G, Lin H, Walker C, Lee M, Currie J, Allgeyer R, Fierro M, Henry M, Portillo A, Massey K. Parent mentoring program increases coverage rates for uninsured Latino children. Health Affairs. 2018 Mar 1;37(3):403-12.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U02MC31613, MCH Advanced Education Policy, $3.5 M. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.