Home visitation programs for at-risk young families. A systematic literature review

This systematic literature review is stimulated by the perceived need of investigator, practice and policy stakeholders for a complete but parsimonious summary of key elements of programs that use home visitation for at-risk young families as the major delivery method.

To describe the program components, practices, outcomes, and reliability of the evaluation approaches.

Computer and hand searches of literature were carried out. Reports of established programs, from the last five years, that describe home visitation services to at-risk families were included. A comprehensive data collection tool was used in the analysis of the findings.

Improvements over the previous five years were seen in the following areas: use of early intervention model, inclusion of comparison groups and adequate sampling.

Challenges remain in development, targeting and reporting of home visitation practice, overall lack of impact, differential effects by program site, retention of participants and appropriate measurement.