Kentucky Health Access Nurturing Development Services Home Visiting Program Improves Maternal and Child Health

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Maternal and Child Health
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Home visitation programs aim to reduce adverse birth outcomes and improve maternal and child well-being.
• The Kentucky Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) program targets first-time, high-risk mothers with voluntary home visits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the HANDS home visitation program on maternal and child health outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of administrative data, birth certificates, and child protection records for 2253 HANDS participants and 2253 matched controls.
• Utilized chi-square statistics and conditional logistic regression to assess program effects.
• Compared outcomes for mothers receiving varying numbers of prenatal home visits.

Main Results:

• HANDS participants showed significantly lower rates of preterm delivery (OR 0.74) and low birth weight infants (OR 0.54).
• Reduced likelihood of substantiated child maltreatment reports (OR 0.53) and increased adequate prenatal care were observed.
• Maternal complications decreased, with optimal outcomes associated with seven or more prenatal home visits.

Conclusions:

• The HANDS program demonstrates significant positive impacts on maternal and child health outcomes.
• A dose-response relationship was evident, with greater benefits observed for mothers receiving more prenatal home visits.
• This large-scale home visiting program holds implications for improving maternal and child health in Kentucky.