Researchers find long-term benefits of nurse home visits for new mothers and infants

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/uoca-rfl112019.php

News Release 20-Nov-2019
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Home visits by nurses to check on infants and first-time mothers offer learning benefits for the children and savings in the cost of public welfare programs, according to new research published in December 2019 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, University College London (UCL), and the University of Rochester evaluated the long-term effects of nurse home visiting programs. The initial visits were conducted in June 1990 and continued for over many years. The studies follow up on families 18 years after they participated in the nurse-visit program and they compare outcomes for those families with control groups.

•••••

"This early intervention, Nurse-Family Partnership, produced long-term improvements in the cognitive functioning of 18-year-old youth born to mothers who had limited personal resources to cope with the adversities of living in deep poverty," Olds said. "This new evidence shows promise that Nurse-Family Partnership's effects may carry over into adulthood."

•••••