丁香园AV

Special report by Daphne Gray-Grant

Reprinted with permission from 丁香园AV News

Findings from the Children鈥檚 Health Policy Centre鈥檚 (CHPC) scientific evaluation of the program Nurse-Family Partnership have shown that it improved maternal-reported child language and mental health at age two years.

Results from the long-term randomized-controlled trial鈥攌nown as the )鈥攚ere published today in the 

CHPC at 丁香园AV (丁香园AV) led the , in collaboration with McMaster University and other organizations.

鈥淲e are thrilled to have these significant positive findings,鈥� said Nicole Catherine, co-principal investigator for the BCHCP, and assistant professor at 丁香园AV鈥檚 Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS). 鈥淲e have shown that intervening very early in a child鈥檚 life鈥攄uring pregnancy鈥攃an have enduring benefits.鈥�

Nurse-Family Partnership aims to improve the lives of children born to young, first-time mothers. Developed nearly 45 years ago by researcher David Olds and colleagues in the United States, the program starts early鈥攊n pregnancy, before children are even born. It involves intensive home visits by public health nurses, continuing until children reach their second birthday. The program focuses on those who are 

Public health nurses provide the home visits鈥攗p to 64 in total over two-and-a-half years. Nurses delivering the program received extensive education. As well, they received resources to use in the visits, and ongoing supervision and support. 颅

The study, which started in 2013, enrolled 739 pregnant girls and young women and their 737 children across the four participating regional Health Authorities (Fraser, Interior, Island and Vancouver Coastal Health. Northern Health was involved in a separate BCHCP NFP nursing pilot and process evaluation).

Approximately 200 Indigenous (including First Nations, M茅tis or Inuit) girls and young women, or 27 per cent, generously agreed to participate in this long-term trial. Some 237 BCHCP children, or 32 per cent, had an Indigenous mother or father.

鈥淲e acknowledge and thank the participating young moms and children who shared their experiences via data collected during 4,000 research interviews,鈥� says Catherine. 鈥淭hey told us they wanted to help make a difference for young families like them.鈥�

BCHCP co-principal investigator and FHS professor emerita Charlotte Waddell highlighted that the study represents millions of dollars and thousands of hours of work by hundreds of people over 13 years. 鈥淥ur findings show the power of policy-practice-research collaboration in the service of common goals,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the ideal way to address tough questions of public health importance.鈥�

The study was funded by the BC Ministry of Health, with support from the BC Ministries of Children and Family Development and Mental Health and Addictions. Participating regional health authorities funded direct nursing costs while the Mowafaghian and Stern Foundations provided additional generous supports.

The CHPC with the BCHCP scientific team has previously published findings from its investigations into the impacts of the NFP program. An earlier paper, published in the , had shown that NFP led to reduced prenatal cannabis use, and in smokers led to modest reductions in cigarette use. Further results that demonstrate NFP鈥檚 other impacts鈥攕uch as reducing intimate-partner violence鈥攚ill be published in the near future.

鈥淎ll the findings show that longer term follow-up of our NFP cohort of children is warranted given that further benefits may emerge across childhood and adolescence,鈥� Catherine said adding that the team is identifying new funding to follow the children over 10 years and beyond. 鈥淭his kind of long-term follow-up is the best way to show the return on public investment in early childhood programs designed to prevent problems from occurring in the first place."

Read the full text of the JCPP paper.