Home visitation program benefits new mothers.(Obstetrics)

A program that sends nurses to visit economically disadvantaged, single mothers during pregnancy and for the child's first 2 years can have long-term benefits, recent data show.

The analysis, which was recently commissioned by the Washington state legislature, shows the largest cost savings of any home visit, child welfare, or early intervention program.

The home visitation program has been developed over 25 years and operates in 21 states and focuses on improving birth outcomes, parenting skills, and children's health and development. It also promotes economic self-sufficiency for families.

Each mother in the Nurse-Family Partnership, develops a long-term relationship with one nurse who follows detailed guidelines and is trained in prenatal care and early child development.

The latest data, published in two articles in the journal Pediatrics, are from controlled, randomized trials conducted in two settings: among low-income African American mothers in Memphis, and among an ethnically and racially diverse group of low-income Denver women.

The women and children in Memphis were interviewed and evaluated 4 years after the program ended, near the child's sixth birthday. Those in Denver were evaluated 2 years after the program ended.

"The effects of the program ... increase the likelihood that nurse-visited children will adjust more effectively as they proceed through elementary school," reported David L. Olds, Ph.D., of the department of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, and his associates (Pediatrics 2004;114:1550-9).