The MOM Program: Home Visiting in Partnership With Pediatric Care

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Home visiting programs aim to improve child health, reduce developmental risks, and enhance use of community resources. How these programs can work in collaboration with pediatric practice has been understudied. The MOM Program was a randomized controlled trial of an innovative home visiting program to serve urban, low-income children. Program aims included promoting child health through regular pediatric visits and enhancing school readiness through developmental screenings and referrals to early intervention. The objective of this report was to describe the partnership with the pediatric community and selected program results. METHODS: A total of 302 mothers were enrolled in the program at the time of children’s birth. Eligible infants were full-term, without identified neurologic/genetic disorder or ICU intervention, and from high-poverty zip codes. A total of 152 were randomized to the home visiting program, with 9 visits over 3 years, scheduled before well-child visits; 150 were randomized to the control condition with no home visits. Medical records and case notes provided information on pediatric appointments kept and program outcomes. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of both groups were retained throughout the 3-year program; 86% of the home-visited group received at least 7 of the 9 planned home visits. Home-visited mothers were >10 times as likely to keep pediatric appointments, compared with those not visited. Barriers to service access were varied, and theory-driven approaches were taken to address these. CONCLUSIONS: Home visiting programs can provide important partnerships with pediatric health care providers. Integrating home visiting services with pediatric care can enhance child health, and this subject warrants expansion.

Paraprofessional-Delivered Home-Visiting Intervention for American Indian Teen Mothers and Children: 3-Year Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…It also addressed access barriers to health care for young mothers and children, and it overcame concerns that home-visiting programs have operated in parallel, not in partnership, with pediatric care (24). Family health liaisons conducted the optimized standard care and were not trained in the Family Spirit intervention, to avoid contamination of the control condition.…”

Conceptualising a model to guide nursing and midwifery in the community guided by an evidence review

“…Non-licensed personnel are those that work under the direction of a professional - usually a nurse, and who do not have a professional qualification. The interventions relate primarily to maternal and child health [54, 105, 106] and high-risk families with young children [107] where nurse-led interventions with unlicensed personnel had significant positive effects on maternal health. This was particularly related to emotional well-being and depressive symptomology [54, 108, 109]; improved birth outcomes, child physical health [110]; breastfeeding duration and parenting skills [105–108, 110]; attendance, and preventative child health appointments [105].…”

A criança e sua família na atenção primária em saúde

“…2,[5][6]9 In this perspective, it is added that home visits developed in primary health care play an important role in the care offered to children and families, as they are a way of expanding child health practices and, consequently, achieving better results for children and their health. 17 It is essential, in the context of primary health care, that nurses develop skills focused on care aimed at the well-being of this public. From this perspective, their actions should be based on the epidemiological and social context in order to ensure health promotion, prevention and recovery.…”