Earned Income Tax Credit Access Study

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
The EITC Access Study an intervention study provided to families in 7 counties in Michigan.The intervention involves appending a concentrated benefits advocacy intervention onto an existing home visiting program. There are 5 treatment counties and 2 control counties that will survey families in the home visiting program to compare the relative benefits of the added benefits advocacy intervention on the outcomes of parent mental health, intimate partner violence, economic hardship, earned income tax credit take-up, and child maltreatment.

Official Title
-----------------
Earned Income Tax Credit Access Study

Conditions
-----------------
The Study is Intended to Increase Take-up of EITC

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Other: Education
* Other: Home visiting


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: 18 years of age, has a child in their home Exclusion Criteria: Does not speak or read English, Spanish, Burmese, or Arabic

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Other: Education intervention<br>Parents in the treatment group will receive information about Earned Income Tax Credit, including how to sign up for free. They will also receive help with budgeting and finances from their home visitor. | Other: Education<br>* Parents will be provided with information about Earned Income Tax Credits and budgeting<br>Other: Home visiting<br>* Parents as Teachers home visiting program<br>|
| Other: Control group<br>Control group families will receive home visiting services as usual. | Other: Home visiting<br>* Parents as Teachers home visiting program<br>|

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Earned Income Tax Credit receipt | Self-report | Within 2 years of receiving the intervention | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Child maltreatment behaviors | Self-report on the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory. 34 Yes/No questions. E.g. A child needs very strict rules. | Within 2 years of receiving the intervention | 
| Intimate partner violence | Self-report from Women's Experiences of Battering Scale. 10 items relating to how they would describe their life with their partner. Scale ranges from Strongly agree to strongly disagree. E.g. 1. He makes me feel unsafe even in my own home. | Within 2 years of receiving the intervention | 
| Depression | Self-report from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). 20 questions on a scale from rarely to most or all of the time relating to things experienced within the past week. E.g. I was bothered by things that usually don't bother me. | Within 2 years of receiving the intervention | 
| Anxiety | Self-report from the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7). 7 questions relating to feelings experienced over the past 2 weeks, with response options ranging from not at all to nearly every day. E.g. Not being able to stop or control worrying. | Within 2 years of receiving the intervention | 
| Economic hardship | Self-report on 11 yes or no items indicating whether individual hardships were experienced in the past year. E.g. Was there anyone in your household who needed to see a doctor or go to the hospital but could not go because of the cost? | Within 2 years of receiving the intervention |