[Effectiveness of a home visit program for adolescent mothers and their children]

Home visiting is effective for the promotion and prevention of mother-child health in other countries, especially in vulnerable populations such as pregnant teenagers.

To evaluate the association between receiving a home visiting program during pregnancy and child development during the first year of life, maternal mental health, perception of social support and school attendance.

Cross sectional assessment of 132 teenage mother-sibling pairs. Of these, 87 received home visits and 45 were randomly assigned to a control group. The assessed variables were maternal mental health, perception of social support, life satisfaction, incorporation of mothers to school after delivery, child development and frequency of child abuse and neglect.

Mothers that received home visits had a better mental health and went back to school in a higher proportion. No significant differences between groups were observed on perception of social support or child development.

These results suggest the effectiveness of domiciliary visits performed by non-professionals, to improve mental health and social integration of teenage mothers.