Family support as an intervention with female long-term AFDC recipients

This article presents the results of an evaluation of a family support program for female long-term AFDC recipients. The randomly assigned program participants and control group members provided information in hour-long telephone interviews about their personal development and living situations. The findings show that program participants perceived that they had gained greater self-efficacy and competence, but not self-confidence, than did control group members. More program participants acted proactively on housing problems and had larger education and wage gains. Data from the Iowa Department of Human Services AFDC files showed that 60 percent of participants had gone off welfare in the fifth year after enrollment, compared with 56 percent of control group members.