Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) trial: design, method and sample description

Lynn Kemp; Elizabeth Harris; Catherine McMahon; Stephen Matthey; Graham Vimpani; Teresa Anderson; Virginia Schmied

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-424

Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) trial: design, method and sample description

Lynn Kemp^*, Elizabeth Harris, Catherine McMahon, Stephen Matthey, Graham Vimpani, Teresa Anderson, Virginia Schmied

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

37 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background. Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained visits by professionals (usually nurses) over the first two years of life show promise in promoting child health and family functioning, and ameliorating disadvantage. Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting in early childhood is limited. This paper describes the method and cohort characteristics of the first Australian study of sustained home visiting commencing antenatally and continuing to child-age two years for at-risk mothers in a disadvantaged community (the Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial). Methods and design. Mothers reporting risks for poorer parenting outcomes residing in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage were recruited between February 2003 and March 2005. Mothers randomised to the intervention group received a standardised program of nurse home visiting. Interviews and observations covering child, maternal, family and environmental issues were undertaken with mothers antenatally and at 1, 12 and 24 months postpartum. Standardised tests of child development and maternal-child interaction were undertaken at 18 and 30 months postpartum. Information from hospital and community heath records was also obtained. Discussion. A total of 338 women were identified and invited to participate, and 208 were recruited to the study. Rates of active follow-up were 86% at 12 months, 74% at 24 months and 63% at 30 months postpartum. Participation in particular data points ranged from 66% at 1 month to 51% at 24 months postpartum. Rates of active follow-up and data point participation were not significantly different for the intervention or comparison group at any data point. Mothers who presented for antenatal care prior to 20 weeks pregnant, those with household income from full-time employment and those who reported being abused themselves as a child were more likely to be retained in the study. The Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial will provide Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting for children at risk of poorer health and developmental outcomes. Trial registration. ACTRN12608000473369.

Original language	English
Article number	424
Pages (from-to)	1-12
Number of pages	12
Journal	BMC Public Health
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-424
Publication status	Published - 2008

Bibliographical note

Copyright 2008 Kemp et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Access to Document

10.1186/1471-2458-8-424

Publisher version (open access).pdfFinal published version, 1.01 MB

Cite this

@article{8c97d658a4f944bfaca982e879848292,

title = "Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) trial: design, method and sample description",

abstract = "Background. Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained visits by professionals (usually nurses) over the first two years of life show promise in promoting child health and family functioning, and ameliorating disadvantage. Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting in early childhood is limited. This paper describes the method and cohort characteristics of the first Australian study of sustained home visiting commencing antenatally and continuing to child-age two years for at-risk mothers in a disadvantaged community (the Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial). Methods and design. Mothers reporting risks for poorer parenting outcomes residing in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage were recruited between February 2003 and March 2005. Mothers randomised to the intervention group received a standardised program of nurse home visiting. Interviews and observations covering child, maternal, family and environmental issues were undertaken with mothers antenatally and at 1, 12 and 24 months postpartum. Standardised tests of child development and maternal-child interaction were undertaken at 18 and 30 months postpartum. Information from hospital and community heath records was also obtained. Discussion. A total of 338 women were identified and invited to participate, and 208 were recruited to the study. Rates of active follow-up were 86% at 12 months, 74% at 24 months and 63% at 30 months postpartum. Participation in particular data points ranged from 66% at 1 month to 51% at 24 months postpartum. Rates of active follow-up and data point participation were not significantly different for the intervention or comparison group at any data point. Mothers who presented for antenatal care prior to 20 weeks pregnant, those with household income from full-time employment and those who reported being abused themselves as a child were more likely to be retained in the study. The Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial will provide Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting for children at risk of poorer health and developmental outcomes. Trial registration. ACTRN12608000473369.",

author = "Lynn Kemp and Elizabeth Harris and Catherine McMahon and Stephen Matthey and Graham Vimpani and Teresa Anderson and Virginia Schmied",

note = "Copyright 2008 Kemp et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.",

year = "2008",

doi = "10.1186/1471-2458-8-424",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

pages = "1--12",

journal = "BMC Public Health",

issn = "1471-2458",

publisher = "Springer, Springer Nature",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) trial

T2 - design, method and sample description

AU - Kemp, Lynn

AU - Harris, Elizabeth

AU - McMahon, Catherine

AU - Matthey, Stephen

AU - Vimpani, Graham

AU - Anderson, Teresa

AU - Schmied, Virginia

N1 - Copyright 2008 Kemp et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - Background. Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained visits by professionals (usually nurses) over the first two years of life show promise in promoting child health and family functioning, and ameliorating disadvantage. Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting in early childhood is limited. This paper describes the method and cohort characteristics of the first Australian study of sustained home visiting commencing antenatally and continuing to child-age two years for at-risk mothers in a disadvantaged community (the Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial). Methods and design. Mothers reporting risks for poorer parenting outcomes residing in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage were recruited between February 2003 and March 2005. Mothers randomised to the intervention group received a standardised program of nurse home visiting. Interviews and observations covering child, maternal, family and environmental issues were undertaken with mothers antenatally and at 1, 12 and 24 months postpartum. Standardised tests of child development and maternal-child interaction were undertaken at 18 and 30 months postpartum. Information from hospital and community heath records was also obtained. Discussion. A total of 338 women were identified and invited to participate, and 208 were recruited to the study. Rates of active follow-up were 86% at 12 months, 74% at 24 months and 63% at 30 months postpartum. Participation in particular data points ranged from 66% at 1 month to 51% at 24 months postpartum. Rates of active follow-up and data point participation were not significantly different for the intervention or comparison group at any data point. Mothers who presented for antenatal care prior to 20 weeks pregnant, those with household income from full-time employment and those who reported being abused themselves as a child were more likely to be retained in the study. The Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial will provide Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting for children at risk of poorer health and developmental outcomes. Trial registration. ACTRN12608000473369.

AB - Background. Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained visits by professionals (usually nurses) over the first two years of life show promise in promoting child health and family functioning, and ameliorating disadvantage. Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting in early childhood is limited. This paper describes the method and cohort characteristics of the first Australian study of sustained home visiting commencing antenatally and continuing to child-age two years for at-risk mothers in a disadvantaged community (the Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial). Methods and design. Mothers reporting risks for poorer parenting outcomes residing in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage were recruited between February 2003 and March 2005. Mothers randomised to the intervention group received a standardised program of nurse home visiting. Interviews and observations covering child, maternal, family and environmental issues were undertaken with mothers antenatally and at 1, 12 and 24 months postpartum. Standardised tests of child development and maternal-child interaction were undertaken at 18 and 30 months postpartum. Information from hospital and community heath records was also obtained. Discussion. A total of 338 women were identified and invited to participate, and 208 were recruited to the study. Rates of active follow-up were 86% at 12 months, 74% at 24 months and 63% at 30 months postpartum. Participation in particular data points ranged from 66% at 1 month to 51% at 24 months postpartum. Rates of active follow-up and data point participation were not significantly different for the intervention or comparison group at any data point. Mothers who presented for antenatal care prior to 20 weeks pregnant, those with household income from full-time employment and those who reported being abused themselves as a child were more likely to be retained in the study. The Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial will provide Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting for children at risk of poorer health and developmental outcomes. Trial registration. ACTRN12608000473369.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=60849118109&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1186/1471-2458-8-424

DO - 10.1186/1471-2458-8-424

M3 - Article

C2 - 19113994

AN - SCOPUS:60849118109

SN - 1471-2458

VL - 8

SP - 1

EP - 12

JO - BMC Public Health

JF - BMC Public Health

M1 - 424

ER -

Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) trial: design, method and sample description

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this