As the federal government pours more money into nurse home visitation programs for new mothers, a study released this week indicates two things: the new programs will need time to produce results, and the programs might be particularly strong at convincing teen moms in rural areas to delay having a second baby.
The assessment of Pennsylvania’s statewide Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program, a brand of home visitation that sends nurses to work with first-time mothers, found that the program made no difference on delayed second pregnancies from 2000 to 2003, the first three years of statewide implementation. But between 2004 and 2005, the study found, women in the program were less likely to give birth a second time within two years of having their first child than were women in a control group.
For more from Youth Today on the study, click here.
Click here to access the study (subscription to Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine is required).
