Through extensive research conducted over more than three decades, NFP has a proven level of effectiveness. Three randomized, controlled trials demonstrate that Nurse-Family Partnership delivers against its goals of better pregnancy outcomes, improved child health and development, and increased economic self-sufficiency. These outcomes contribute to preventing child abuse, reducing juvenile crime, and increasing school readiness.
Consistent and Significant Results Across at Least 2 of the 3 US Trials:
Prenatal Health
Reduced prenatal cigarette use
Fewer hypertensive disorders of pregnancy
Child Wellbeing
Reduced child injuries
Improved child language and cognitive development among children born to mothers with low psychological resources
Reduced child behavioural problems
Reduced substance use
Reduced depression/anxiety
Maternal Wellbeing
Fewer closely spaced subsequent pregnancies
Improved parenting
Increased employment
Reduced dependence on social assistance
Reduced substance use
Reduced behavioural impairment due to substance use
2. Memphis Trial
Effect of Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses on Pregnancy Outcomes, Childhood Injuries, and Repeated Childbearing. A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Kitzman H, Olds DL, Henderson CR Jr, Hanks C, Cole R, Tatelbaum R, McConnochie KM, Sidora K, Luckey DW, Shaver D, Engelhardt K, James D, Barnard K. JAMA. 1997;278(8):644-52.
Australia
Bulgaria
Canada
Improving Children’s Health and Development in British Columbia through Nurse Home Visiting: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.
Catherine NL, Gonzalez A, Boyle M, Sheehan D, Jack SM, Hougham KA, McCandless L, MacMillan HL, Waddell C; British Columbia Healthy Connections Project Scientific Team. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Aug 4;16(a):349. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1594-0
Weathering the rural reality: Delivery of the Nurse-Family Partnership home visitation program in rural British Columbia, Canada.
Campbell, KA, MacKinnon, K, Dobbins, M, Van Borek, N, & Jack, SM., for the British Columbia Healthy Connections Project Process Evaluation Research Team. BMC Nursing. 2019;18(1):17.
Nurse Home Visiting and Prenatal Substance Use in a Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Population in British Columbia: Analysis of Prenatal Secondary Outcomes in an Ongoing Randomized Controlled Trial
Catherine NLA, Boyle M, Zheng Y, McCandless L, Xie H, Lever R, Sheehan D, Gonzalez A, Jack SM, Gafni A, Tonmyr L, Marcellus L, Varcoe C, Cullen A, Hjertaas K, Riebe C, Rikert N, Sunthoram A, Barr R, MacMillan H, Waddell C. CMAJO. 8:E667-E675; 2020.
Public Health Nurses’ Professional Practices to Prevent, Recognize, and Respond to Suspected Child Maltreatment in Home Visiting: An Interpretive Descriptive Study.
Jack SM, Gonzalez A, Marcellus L, Tonmyr L, Varcoe C, Van Borek N, Sheehan D, MacKinnon K, Campbell K, Catherine N, Kurtz Landy C, MacMillan HL, Waddell C. Global Qualitative Nursing Research. January 2021.
Nurse-Family Partnership nurses’ attitudes and confidence in identifying and responding to intimate partner violence: An explanatory sequential mixed methods evaluation
Jack SM, Kimber M, Davidov D, Ford-Gilboe M, Wathen CN, McKee C, Tanaka M, Boyle M, Johnston C, Coben J, Gasbarro M, McNaughton D, O’Brien R, Olds DL, Scribano P, MacMillan HL. Journal of Advanced Nursing. July 2021.
Factors influencing the implementation of an intimate partner violence intervention in nurse home visiting: A qualitative descriptive study.
Jack, S. M., Davidov, D., Stone, C., Ford-Gilboe, M., Kimber, M., McKee, C., MacMillan, H. L., & For the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Research Team. June 2022.
Catherine, N. L., MacMillan, H., Cullen, A., Zheng, Y., Xie, H., Boyle, M., Sheehan, D., Lever, R., Jack, S. M., Gonzalez, A., Gafni, A., Tonmyr, L., Barr, R., Marcellus, L., Varcoe, C., & Waddell, C. (2023). Effectiveness of nurse‐home visiting in improving child and maternal outcomes prenatally to age two years: A randomised controlled trial (British Columbia Healthy Connections Project). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13846
A Model of Shared Supervision in Nurse-Family Partnership: A Descriptive Case Study
Jack, S., Campbell, K., Strohm, S., Croswell, L., Andrea Gonzalez, & Hicks, A. (n.d.). (rep.). A Model of Shared Supervision in Nurse-Family Partnership: A Descriptive Case Study (pp. 1–16). Public Health Niagara Region.
A Model of Shared Supervision in Nurse-Family Partnership: A Descriptive Case Study
Jack, S., Campbell, K., Strohm, S., Croswell, L., Andrea Gonzalez, & Hicks, A. (n.d.). (rep.). A Model of Shared Supervision in Nurse-Family Partnership: A Descriptive Case Study (pp. 1–16). Public Health Niagara Region.
Robling M, Bekkers MJ, Bell K, Butler CC, Cannings-John R, Channon S, Martin BC, Gregory JW, Hood K, Kemp A, Kenkre J, Montgomery AA, Moody G, Owen-Jones E, Pickett K, Richardson G, Roberts ZE, Ronaldson S, Sanders J, Stamuli E, Torgerson D. The Lancet. 2015;387(10014):146-155.
Assessing the medium-term impact of a home-visiting programme on child maltreatment in England: protocol for a routine data linkage study.
Lugg-Widger FV, Cannings-John R, Channon S, Fitzsimmons D, Hood K, Jones KH, Kemp A, Kenkre J, Longo M, McEwan K, Moody G, Owen-Jones E, Sanders J, Segrott J, Robling M. BMJ Open. 2017 Jul 13;7(7):e015728.
What is usual care for teenagers expecting their first child in England? A process evaluation using key informant mapping and participant survey as part of the Building Blocks randomised controlled trial of specialist home visiting
Robling M, Cannings-John R, Channon S, Hood K, Moody G, Poole R, Sanders J. BMJ Open. 2018 May 5;8(5):e020152.
The Family Nurse Partnership to reduce maltreatment and improve child health and development in young children: the BB:2 6 routine data-linkage follow-up to earlier RCT
Robling M, Lugg-Widger F, Cannings-John R, Sanders J, Angel L, Channon S, Fitzsimmons D, Hood K, Kenkre J, Moody G, Owen-Jones E, Pockett R, Segrott J, Slater T. Public Health Res. 2021;9(2).
Providing the Family–Nurse Partnership programme through interpreters in England
Barnes, J., Ball, M., & Niven, L. (2011). Providing the family-nurse partnership programme through interpreters in England. Health & Social Care in the Community, 19(4), 382–391. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00985.x
From evidence-base to practice: implementation of the Nurse Family Partnership programme in England
Barnes, J. (2010). From evidence‐base to practice: Implementation of the nurse family partnership programme in England. Journal of Children’s Services, 5(4), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.5042/jcs.2010.0691
Early intervention and holistic, relationship-based practice
with fathers: evidence from the work of the Family
Nurse Partnership
Ferguson, H., & Gates, P. (2013). Early intervention and holistic, relationship-based practice with fathers: Evidence from the work of the Family Nurse Partnership. Child & Family Social Work, 20(1), 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12059
Please note that the Netherlands in no longer implementing NFP/VoorZorg.
The Effect of VoorZorg, the Dutch Nurse-Family Partnership, on Child Maltreatment and Development: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Mejdoubi J, van den Heijkant SC, van Leerdam FJ, Heymans MW, Crijnen A, Hirasing RA. PLoS One. 2015;10(4): e0120182
Evaluability assessment of the family Nurse Partnership in Scotland
Wimbush E., Geddes, R., Woodman, K., Craig, P. and Jepson, R. NHS Health Scotland. 2015.
Evaluating the Family Nurse Partnership Programme in Scotland: a Natural Experiment Approach.
Cannings-John, R., Lugg-Widger, F., Robling, M., Paranjothy, S., White, J., Pell, J., and Sanders, J. International Journal of Population Data Science. 2018;3(3):403.
10 years FNP Data Analysis in Scotland Showing Promising Results
This publication has been produced in collaboration with the Scottish Government and Family Nurse supervisors, May 2022. Click here to see the YouTube video.
The latest findings from NFP Trial in South Carolina can be found here
McConnell MA, Rokicki S, Ayers S, et al. Effect of an Intensive Nurse Home Visiting Program on Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Medicaid-Eligible Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2022;328(1):27–37. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.9703
Not only has NFP been rigorously evaluated in several countries, it is recognized by other researchers and organizations as a top-tier evidentiary intervention. The Nurse-Family Partnership is one of two specific home-visiting programmes that have been shown to prevent child maltreatment and associated outcomes such as injuries:
The Nurse-Family Partnership appears to be a sound investment because it reduces intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, and youth crime and substance abuse; increases independence; and saves both money and lives.
Projected Outcomes of Nurse-Family Partnership Home Visitation During 1996-2013, USA.
Miller T. Prev Sci. 2015;16(6):765-77.
The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy (a non-profit, non-partisan organization) has determined that the NFP meets the Congressional Top Tier Evidence standard, defined as: Interventions shown in well-designed and implemented randomized controlled trials, preferably conducted in typical community settings, to produce sizable, sustained benefits to participants and/or society.
The RAND Organization has determined that the economic benefits of early childhood interventions [such as NFP] are likely to be greatest for programs that effectively serve targeted, disadvantaged children compared with universal programs or programs that serve more-advantaged children
Early Childhood Interventions – Proven Results, Future Promise
Karoly LA, Kilburn MR, Jill S. Cannon JS.
The Public Health Agency of Canada lists Nurse-Family Partnership in their Best Practices Portal. A Best Practice is defined as an intervention, program, service, or strategy that has, through multiple implementations, demonstrated: High Impact – positive changes related to the desired goal(s); High Adaptability – successful adaptation and transferability to different settings; and High Quality of Evidence – excellent quality of research/evaluation methodology, confirming the intervention’s high impact and adaptability evidence.
The independent analysis of the Memphis trial by Nobel Laureate, Jim Heckman of the University of Chicago, “An Analysis of the Memphis Nurse-Family Partnership Program”, puts NFP through its most rigorous analysis to date and finds that the program improved maternal mental health and parenting skills, which resulted in better outcomes for their children.
An Analysis of the Memphis Nurse-Family Partnership Program
Heckman JJ, Holland ML, Makino K, Pinto R, Rosales-Rueda M. NBER Working Paper No. 23610. Issued in July 2017.
Nures-Family Partnership history and how we have evolved with Dr. David Olds.
Hear directly from Dr. David Olds about the history of NFP, the RCTs undertaken, and how the program has evolved over the past 40 or so years.
This is a must for new NFP practitioners and for those who have been in NFP for some – it serves as a timely and joyful reminder of why we do this job. See Video Here
See our archive of published peer-reviewed articles
Download archive below