Child and family outcomes of a long-term nurse home visitation programme : a randomised controlled trial

Lynn Kemp, Elizabeth Harris, Catherine McMahon, Stephen Matthey, Graham Vimpani, Teresa Anderson, Virginia Schmied, Henna Aslam, Siggi Zapart

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    128 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a long-term nurse home visiting programme, embedded within a universal child health system, on the health, development and well-being of the child, mother and family. A randomised controlled trial was conducted, with participants including 208 (111 intervention, 97 comparison) eligible at-risk mothers living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area in Sydney, booking into the local public hospital for confinement. The trial consisted of a sustained and structured nurse home visiting antenatal and postnatal parenting education and support programme, with the main outcome measures being the quality of the home environment for child development (12-24 months), parent-child interaction and child mental, psychomotor and behavioural development at 18 months. Mothers receiving the intervention were more emotionally and verbally responsive (HOME observation) during the first 2 years of their child's life than comparison group mothers (mean difference 0.5; 95% CI 0.1 to 0.9). Duration of breastfeeding was longer for intervention mothers than comparison mothers (mean difference 7.9 weeks; 95% CI 2.9 to 12.9). There was no significant difference in parent-child interaction between the intervention and comparison groups. There were no significant overall group differences in child mental, psychomotor or behavioural development. Mothers assessed antenatally as having psychosocial distress benefitted from the intervention across a number of areas. This sustained nurse home visiting programme showed trends to enhanced outcomes in many, but not all, areas. Specifically, it resulted in clinically enhanced outcomes in breastfeeding duration and, for some subgroups of mothers, women's experience of motherhood and children's mental development.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)533-540
    Number of pages8
    JournalArchives of Disease in Childhood
    Volume96
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • breastfeeding
    • child development
    • home nursing
    • parent and child
    • parenting
    • postnatal care
    • visiting nurses

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