The Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program is a home-based visitation program. It is designed to prevent a wide range of childhood health and developmental problems, including abuse and neglect. The program was designed by Olds et al. (1986).
The program aims to:
Nurse-Family Partnership works by having specially trained nurses regularly visit young, first-time mums to-be starting early in the pregnancy, and continuing through to the child’s second birthday.
Pregnant women benefit by getting the care and support they need to have a healthy pregnancy. At the same time, new mothers develop a close relationship with a nurse who becomes a trusted resource they can rely on for advice on everything from safely caring for their child to taking steps to provide a stable, secure future for them both. Through the partnership, the nurse provides new mothers with the confidence and the tools they need to assure a healthy start for their infants.
See also Nurse-Family Partnership Program Summary in the Reducing Child Harm and Maltreatment Evidence Review.
The NFP program is designed for socially disadvantaged young mothers with a first-time pregnancy.
The NFP program has only been evaluated in the USA (Olds et al. 1986, Olds et al. 1998, Eckenrode et al. 2000, Eckenrode et al. 2017).
Four randomised control trials were conducted.
The original trial was with 400 people (216 people in the two intervention groups, and 184 people in the control group). 47% of the participants were less than 19 years old. Participant ethnicity was not reported. Participants were mostly from low income families. (Olds et al. 1986)
The second trial was with 1,139 people (458 people in the two intervention groups, and 681 people in the two control groups). Participants were mostly African-American, from low income families, and aged 18 or younger (Olds et al. 1998).
Two more follow up studies were conducted on the original trial participants.
The first follow up had 324 people (intervention and control group split is not recorded), and was evaluated 14 years after the first trial (Eckenrode et al. 2000). The second follow up had 251 people (intervention and control group split is not recorded), and was evaluated 31 years after the first trial (Eckenrode et al. 2017).
There is an Australian version of the NFP aimed at Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders. However, it has not been evaluated in Australia or with Aboriginal Australians.
Overall, the NFP program has positive effects on client outcomes.
Supported research evidence:
The NFP program a home visitation program, during pregnancy up until a child is two years old. The visitation frequency is based on the needs of the mothers and families. Nurses use the home visits to carry out three major activities:
A central aspect of the nurses’ approach is to emphasise the strengths of women and their families.
Nurses use a detailed curriculum to guide their educational activities but tailor the content of their visits to the individual needs of each family. Specific objectives include improving parents’ understanding of:
Both during pregnancy and early child rearing, nurses encourage the women’s close friends and relatives to participate in home visits, to help with household responsibilities, to aid in the care of the child/mother, and to reinforce the advice of the nurses in their absence.
The nurses also connect families with community health and human service agencies. Parents are urged to keep childcare appointments and to call the physician’s office when a health problem occurred, so the office staff can help them make decisions about whether office or emergency room visits are necessary.
The nurses send two regular reports of their observations regarding medical, social, and emotional conditions to the private physicians who provided the babies’ paediatric care. When visiting families’ homes, the nurses also clarified and reinforced the physicians’ recommendations.
When necessary, parents were referred to other services such as vocational training programs, Planned Parenthood, mental health counselling, legal aid, and the nutritional supplementation program for women, infants, and children.
Not reported
The two follow up studies provide evidence on the long-term efficacy of the NFP program. They demonstrate that children have fewer maltreatment reports over their first 15 years of life if their mothers have participated in the program. The first follow up (see Eckenrode et al. 2000) was published 14 years after the original RCT by Olds et al. (1986). The second follow up (see Eckenrode et al. 2017) was published 31 years after the original RCT.
An Australian version of the program is aimed at Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander populations. See their website at: https://www.anfpp.com.au
Two original RCTs and two follow ups to the earliest RCT:
For more information about the original NFP program see: https://www.nursefamilypartnership.org
For more information about the Australian NFP program, aimed at Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients see: https://www.anfpp.com.au
24 Feb 2023
We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Nations Peoples of NSW and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.
Informed by lessons of the past, Department of Communities and Justice is improving how we work with Aboriginal people and communities. We listen and learn from the knowledge, strength and resilience of Stolen Generations Survivors, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal communities.
You can access our apology to the Stolen Generations.