The Impact of a Healthy Weight Intervention Embedded in a Home-Visiting Program on Children's Weight and Mothers’ Feeding Practices

Design and evaluation of early child development (ECD) programs are poorly documented in low- or middle-income countries. The study aimed to identify family and child characteristics associated with developmental health outcomes among children aged from 4 to 6 years who participated in the “Primeira Infância Melhor” - PIM (Better Early Childhood), a home visiting program in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. We also evaluated the impact of PIM on developmental vulnerability at school entry using a comparison group. Multistage sampling was first used to select cities, then families, in different regions of the state, resulting in a sample of eight cities and 571 children (364 PIM; 207 comparison). We used a sociodemographic questionnaire, completed by parents, and the Early Development Instrument (EDI), completed by teachers. Among PIM children, lower family income, time of exit from the program, city, and younger age were associated with higher risk of developmental vulnerability and/or with lower mean scores in EDI domains. Multivariate analysis controlling for covariates found no differences between the study groups in EDI outcomes even though the gaps in equity of the outcomes were smaller in the PIM group. These results are discussed in the context of challenges faced by home visiting programs in addressing complex social conditions of high-risk families and difficulties in finding an adequate comparison group in communities where an ECD program is universally accessible. We also note the importance of setting structured and longitudinal monitoring systems together with the implementation of ECD policies.

Download Full-text

Impact of a Healthy Weight Intervention Embedded Within a National Home Visiting Program on the Home Food Environment

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2018.00178 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rachel G. Tabak ◽

Alexandra B. Morshed ◽

Cynthia D. Schwarz ◽

Debra Haire-Joshu

Keyword(s):

Food Environment ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Healthy Weight ◽

Home Food Environment ◽

Home Food ◽

Home Visiting Program

Download Full-text

Assessing the Impact of a Phone-based Home-visiting Program in Jordan on Caregivers’ Well-Being and Child Development

AEA Randomized Controlled Trials ◽

10.1257/rct.6568-1.0 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Andres Molano

Keyword(s):

Child Development ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Well Being ◽

Home Visiting Program ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

The Impact of a Home Visiting Program on Children's Utilization of Dental Services

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.2013-1021n ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 132 (Supplement) ◽

pp. S147-S152 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

T. H. Brickhouse ◽

R. R. Haldiman ◽

B. Evani

Keyword(s):

Home Visiting ◽

Dental Services ◽

Home Visiting Program ◽

Utilization Of Dental Services ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Child Development and Early Interaction: PERL Research Protocol, a Preventive Home Visiting Program, Randomized Controlled Trial in France

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.641468 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Sophie Buchheit ◽

Bernard Kabuth ◽

Marie-Christine Colombo ◽

Fabienne Ligier

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trial ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Home Visits ◽

Control Group ◽

Parenting Support ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Home Visiting Program ◽

Early Interaction ◽

The Impact

Background: Early childhood is a key period for reducing the social inequalities that affect health. Some parenting support and home visitation programs have proven to be effective in assisting parents during this period. France's Protection Maternelle et Infantile (maternal and child welfare) services (PMIs) are at the heart of this primary prevention and may adapt their intervention to improve parenting support. In this manuscript, we describe the protocol of the PERL study, an intervention based on a home visiting program.Method and design: The PERL study is a single-center, randomized, controlled interventional trial. The aim was to assess the impact of a preventive home visiting program on the development of young children and parent-baby interaction. Visits were made by PMI nurses to 64 randomly recruited families from the general population. All families who had a baby born after 37 weeks of pregnancy between September 2018 and December 2019, and who resided in the trial area were eligible. Participants were randomly allocated to the intervention group or the control group. The PMI nurses made 12 home visits in the first year, 6 in the second year, and 4 in the third and fourth years of the child's life. Primary and secondary outcomes were measured when the child was 4 and 24 months old. These measurements recorded (i) the child's developmental milestones, in particular, language and socio emotional skills, (ii) early interaction, maternal sensitivity, and attachment patterns, (iii) maternal psychopathology including depression.Discussion: This study aims to assess the impact of home visits, made by specifically-trained and supervised nurses, on the child's development and parent-child interactions. Such interventions are complementary to other preventive programs addressing the impact of social inequalities on perinatal health. Placing nurses' professional skills at the center of this project may prove an effective and cost-saving intervention compared to existing programs. The study proposes a prevention model that is in keeping with the principle of reducing social inequalities in health by providing support from the earliest age through public service.Clinical Trial Registration: The clinical trial number is NCT03506971, registered on April 24, 2018.

Download Full-text

What is the Added Value of Preschool for Poor Children? Long-Term and Intergenerational Impacts and Interactions with an Infant Health Intervention

American Economic Journal Applied Economics ◽

10.1257/app.20180698 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 255-286

Author(s):

Maya Rossin-Slater ◽

Miriam Wüst

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Infant Health ◽

Health Intervention ◽

Added Value ◽

Nurse Home Visiting ◽

Low Income Families ◽

Home Visiting Program ◽

The Impact

We study the impact of preschool targeted at children from low-income families over the life cycle and across generations, and examine its interaction with an infant health intervention. Using Danish administrative data with variation in the timing of program implementation over the period 1933–1960, we find lasting benefits of access to preschool on adult educational attainment, earnings, and survival beyond age 65. We also show that children of women exposed to pre-school obtain more education by age 25. However, exposure to a nurse home visiting program in infancy reduces the added value of preschool, implying that the programs serve as partial substitutes. (JEL I12, I18, I21, I26, J13, J24, J31)

Download Full-text

Impacts of a Home Visiting Program Enhanced with Content on Healthy Birth Spacing

Maternal and Child Health Journal ◽

10.1007/s10995-020-02968-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (S2) ◽

pp. 105-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Susan Zief ◽

John Deke ◽

Paul Burkander ◽

Andrew Langan ◽

Subuhi Asheer

Keyword(s):

Birth Control ◽

Home Visiting ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Favorable Effect ◽

Control Group ◽

Posterior Probabilities ◽

Contraception Use ◽

Program Content ◽

Home Visiting Program ◽

The Impact

Abstract Objectives This study sought to determine the impact of Healthy Families Healthy Futures (HFHF) enhanced with Steps to Success (STS). HFHF is a structured home visiting program for teen parents in Houston that focuses on improving parenting skills and preventing child abuse. HFHF enhanced with STS includes content and activities aimed to reduce repeat pregnancies within 24 months after the first child’s birth. Methods The study team recruited 248 young mothers for the study, primarily through local health clinics and schools, and then randomly assigned them to either a treatment group that was eligible to participate in HFHF enhanced with STS or to a control group. The control group was not offered any other program through the study. Outcomes were measured by a survey administered 12 months after program intake, in five domains aligned with the program’s logic model: (1) exposure to information related to program content, (2) contraception knowledge, (3) contraception use, (4) enhanced family functioning, and (5) child health and development. To estimate program impacts, we used ordinary least squares regression, controlling for demographics and baseline measures of the outcome variables, if available. We use both frequentist approaches (calculations of statistical significance) and Bayesian posterior probabilities to interpret the findings. Results HFHF enhanced with STS significantly (p < .05) impacted exposure to information on parenting and birth control, with effects of 20.8 and 15.4 percentage points, respectively. Using Bayesian posterior probabilities, there is an 85% chance that the program had a favorable effect on these outcomes. We also calculate a probability of 77% that the program had a favorable impact on long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) use, but a probability of 89% that the program reduced knowledge of birth control pills; these two results were not statistically significant (p = .17 and .10, respectively). Conclusions for Practice These findings are primarily favorable and consistent with the program content and goals. Smaller than anticipated sample sizes due to recruitment challenges increased the chances for random error to affect the ability to detect statistically significant differences on many of our other outcomes; Bayesian posterior probabilities can therefore aid in interpreting the impact estimates. More research of this promising model is warranted.

Download Full-text