Evaluation of a public health nurse visiting program for pregnant and parenting teens

A visiting nurse agency created the Pregnant and Parenting Team Program, an innovative program for serving pregnant and parenting teen mothers to promote family and child health and family self-sufficiency. Public health nurses (PHNs) provide home visits that offer social, emotional, educational, and health care support to pregnant and parenting teen mothers 19 years of age and younger and their children. Foundational program pillars include: (1) a trusting relationship between teen mothers and a PHN through home visits; (2) outreach and coordination with schools, hospital, clinics, and human service agencies; (3) a comprehensive and intensive maternal mental health curriculum; and (4) community support and caring through provision of essential items needed for success in parenting. Measures of program effectiveness included identification of pregnant and parenting adolescent mothers, birth outcomes, active enrollment in school, delay of repeat pregnancy, maternal-infant bonding and attachment, use of community resources, and infant growth and development. Participants in the program were more likely to be enrolled in school and had better birth outcomes in comparison with nonparticipants. Outcome data collected from January 1, 2008 to July 23, 2010 demonstrated progress toward stated goals.