Human Development and Family Sciences

Led by four HDFS faculty members, Starting at Home is a five-year federally funded research project aimed at promoting healthy relationships in families with young children.  This study trains home visitors at the university’s New Directions Early Head Start program to implement a parent-child intervention approach as part of their typical home visiting practices.  The researchers are working to answer a number of questions about low-income families’ experiences with stress and whether the intervention is helpful in protecting infants and toddlers from negative effects of early stress.  This University of Delaware project is one of six similar projects nationwide that are each examining different parenting interventions. The research team includes Dr. Jason Hustedt, Dr. Rena Hallam, Dr. Myae Han and Dr. Jennifer Vu. UDaily highlighted the project here.