At the heart of HARC’s work is our practice-based research network (PBRN). HARC PBRN members engage in collaborative, field-initiated studies to move home visiting forward. The PBRN is designed to bring together programs and researchers to answer questions that are critical to the field.
We have five categories of HARC members:
Researchers with an interest in home visiting
Leaders of local programs/agencies that provide home visiting as a primary service strategies to families from birth to five
Representatives of home visiting program models
Leaders of a network of home visiting programs (including state, tribal, territory, MIECHV, or non MIECHV leads)
Friends of HARC – all of those with an interest in home visiting research who do not fall in any of the above categories
To become a HARC member, or to re-enroll in HARC if you are an existing member, you only need to fill out a short enrollment survey for the category which best describes you. Please click the box below to enroll!
You may have additional questions about the PBRN. Below are some Frequently Asked Questions and their responses.
We will use the enrollment survey information to create summary reports about our HARC members. We will also use your contact information to send you our monthly newsletter and contact you about upcoming research opportunities that may be of interest. We may occasionally send you other timely emails that cannot wait for the newsletter, but we keep those to a minimum.
There are several benefits of being a HARC member:
• You will get opportunities to participate in research studies of interest to you. All research studies are reviewed and approved by our HARC Council.
• You will be among the first to learn about research findings from our studies.
• You can propose studies and colloborate with other network members to develop and implement them.
• You will be invited to our annual meeting, usually held in the Spring.
• You can participate in special interest groups and meet others with similar backgrounds and/or invested in the same areas that are important to you.
• Your participation can help inform the future of the field! Who doesn’t want that?
Members of our network initiate studies each year that engage the PBRN. Studies range from simple surveys to those with more complex designs, such as piloting new measures or testing interventions to improve practice.
HARC members have participated in research on a variety of topics including:
• the transition to virtual services during the COVID-19 pandemic;
• parent engagement;
• home visiting program readiness to service military families with young children; and
• coordination between home visiting programs and the medical home.
We worked with home visiting programs from our network to create an online toolkit to help home visitors learn, identify, practice and apply strategies to promote responsive partnership with families.
For a full list of research briefs describing network studies, please click here.
Nothing! HARC is free to join.
Once you enroll, you will be placed on our mailing list. We send a newsletter every other month and make other periodic announcements of interest to our community. If a research study is looking for partners or participants, you may also receive emails providing more information about the study once it has been approved by our HARC Council.
No! All research is voluntary. If you get an invitation to learn more about a study, it is up to you regarding whether or not you or your program would like to participate. Our only requirement is that you complete the enrollment survey and annual updates to make sure our information about our members is accurate.
We will share a short brief about study results shortly after the study ends. We will also continue to share updated results in our monthly newsletter and on our website. You can see a full list of all research briefs about network studies here.
HARC is launching its new phase of operations which includes additional opportunities for HARC members to participate in our activities and interact with peers. These will be rolled out in the next year, so stay tuned! In the meantime, HARC members can apply to participate on our Council (reviewing potential home visiting studies that want to use our network) and attend our annual meeting, typically held for one or two days in the Spring.
Great! We have a short form for you to use to describe your proposed research. Once we receive it, our HARC Council will review it and send you feedback. When the study is approved, our coordinators will work closely with you to carry out the study with our members.
Talk to us! We would be happy to review your idea and think about what steps are needed to move it to a formal proposal. We may, if you are interested, connect you with researchers who may be willing to collaborate with you on the project. You can always reach out to Kay O’Neill, HARC Coordinator (koneill@jhu.edu) or Jon Korfmacher, HARC Council Chair (jkorfmacher@chapinhall.org).
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