The promise of home visitation: Results of two randomized trials

Two randomized trials of prenatal and infancy home visitation conducted in semirural and urban areas are described and their results presented. The studies provide consistent findings that nurse home visitors can improve women's health related behaviors, qualities of infant caregiving, and can help women improve their own life-course development (reflected in behaviors such as rates of subsequent pregnancies and births, and receipt of welfare). The effects of the program on reducing the rates of dysfunctional care (reflected in rates of child maltreatment and health care encounters for injuries) were concentrated in women with few psychological resources. Reviews of other randomized trials indicate that to produce comparable effects, interventions must include those program ingredients embodied in the model tested in these two trials. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

[1]  C. Henderson,et al.  Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect. Fifteen-year follow-up of a randomized trial. , 1997, JAMA.

[2]  C. Henderson,et al.  Effect of prenatal and infancy home visitation by nurses on pregnancy outcomes, childhood injuries, and repeated childbearing. A randomized controlled trial. , 1997, JAMA.

[3]  R. Goldenberg,et al.  Intrauterine infection and why preterm prevention programs have failed. , 1996, American journal of public health.

[4]  M. Bornstein,et al.  Information processing and developmental assessments in 3-month-old infants exposed prenatally to cocaine. , 1995, Pediatrics.

[5]  C. Henderson,et al.  Effects of prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation on surveillance of child maltreatment. , 1995, Pediatrics.

[6]  L. Mayes.  Neurobiology of prenatal cocaine exposure effect on developing monoamine systems , 1994 .

[7]  C. Widom,et al.  Antisocial personality disorder in abused and neglected children grown up. , 1994, The American journal of psychiatry.

[8]  C. Henderson,et al.  Does prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation have enduring effects on qualities of parental caregiving and child health at 25 to 50 months of life? , 1994, Pediatrics.

[9]  T. Moffitt.  Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. , 1993, Psychological review.

[10]  C. Henderson,et al.  Effect of Prenatal and Infancy Nurse Home Visitation on Government Spending , 1993, Medical care.

[11]  D. Olds,et al.  Review of research on home visiting for pregnant women and parents of young children. , 1993 .

[12]  S. Gortmaker,et al.  Maternal smoking and behavior problems of children. , 1992, Pediatrics.

[13]  J. Villar,et al.  Calcium supplementation to prevent hypertensive disorders of pregnancy , 1991, The New England journal of medicine.

[14]  S. Chaikind,et al.  The impact of low birthweight on special education costs. , 1991, Journal of health economics.

[15]  D. Olds,et al.  Can home visitation improve the health of women and children at environmental risk? , 1990, Pediatrics.

[16]  D. Daro,et al.  Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The Results of the 1989 Annual Fifty State Survey. Working Paper Number 808. , 1990 .

[17]  L. Beckwith,et al.  Characteristics of attachment organization and play organization in prenatally drug-exposed toddlers , 1989, Development and Psychopathology.

[18]  B. Sibai,et al.  Clinical significance of elevated mean arterial blood pressure in second trimester and threshold increase in systolic or diastolic blood pressure during third trimester. , 1989, American journal of obstetrics and gynecology.

[19]  C. Henderson,et al.  Improving the life-course development of socially disadvantaged mothers: a randomized trial of nurse home visitation. , 1988, American journal of public health.

[20]  M. Kramer.  Intrauterine growth and gestational duration determinants. , 1987, Pediatrics.

[21]  C. Henderson,et al.  Preventing child abuse and neglect: a randomized trial of nurse home visitation. , 1986, Pediatrics.

[22]  Z. Stein,et al.  Effects of early nutrition on neurological and mental competence in human beings , 1985, Psychological Medicine.

[23]  J. Reis,et al.  Effectiveness of home visits by public health nurses in maternal and child health: an empirical review. , 1985, Public health reports.

[24]  J. Kline,et al.  Smoking, alcohol and reproduction. , 1983, American journal of public health.

[25]  E. Siegel,et al.  Measuring the Impact of Programs for Mothers and Infants on Prenatal Care and Low Birth Weight: The Value of Refined Analyses , 1983, Medical care.

[26]  Z. Stein,et al.  A randomized controlled trial of prenatal nutritional supplementation in New York City. , 1980, Pediatrics.

[27]  S. Gortmaker.  The effects of prenatal care upon the health of the newborn. , 1979, American journal of public health.

[28]  Joann L. Robinson,et al.  THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF A PROGRAM OF HOME VISITATION FOR PREGNANT WOMEN AND PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN , 1997 .

[29]  S. Hiatt,et al.  Paraprofessional home visitation: Conceptual and pragmatic considerations , 1997 .

[30]  E. Carlson,et al.  Contribution of attachment theory to developmental psychopathology. , 1995 .

[31]  Terrie E. Moffitt,et al.  The neuropsychology of conduct disorder , 1993, Development and Psychopathology.

[32]  J. Brooks-Gunn,et al.  Adolescent mothers in later life: Frontmatter , 1987 .

[33]  Robert H. Bradley,et al.  Home observation for measurement of the environment , 1979 .