[The characteristics, effectiveness and challenges of home visiting in early intervention programmes]

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Public Health
• Social Work

Background:

• Home visiting programs are a key strategy for early childhood intervention.
• Evidence for their effectiveness is primarily from Anglo-Saxon studies.
• Dissemination challenges exist, particularly in resource-limited regions like Latin America.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the characteristics, effectiveness, and challenges of home visiting programs for early childhood intervention.
• To clarify the scope, limitations, and applications of existing research.
• To identify factors influencing program design and effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of papers published between 1999 and 2009.
• Searches conducted in PsycInfo, PubMed, EBSCO, and ProQuest databases.
• Analysis focused on program characteristics, effectiveness, and challenges.

Main Results:

• Home visiting is effective, particularly for enhancing parent skills and child-caregiver relationships.
• Most effective programs start prenatally, last over a year, utilize trained staff, and focus on trust-building and interaction modeling.
• Program success depends on target population, visiting model, and visitor characteristics.

Conclusions:

• High costs of established programs pose barriers to implementation in regions like Latin America.
• There is a need to develop and evaluate cost-effective program variants, such as those involving community agents.
• Tailoring interventions to local needs and characteristics is crucial for successful early childhood intervention.