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Should Early Health Investments Work? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Complex Early-Childhood

Deirdre Coy1, Orla Doyle1

  • 1University College Dublin & UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy.

Journal of Human Capital
|December 24, 2025
PubMed

Insights

This study assessed an Irish early intervention program

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Public Health
  • Health Economics

Background:

  • Evidence on early intervention's impact on child health is mixed.
  • Child health and human capital development are crucial for long-term outcomes.
  • Understanding the effectiveness of intensive parenting support programs is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of an Irish early intervention program on health capital in early childhood.
  • To examine the short-term effects of comprehensive parenting support on children's health outcomes.
  • To determine if intensive early intervention influences the development of health capital.

Main Methods:

  • Randomized controlled trial (RCT) design.
  • Intensive parenting support intervention including home visits and parenting classes from pregnancy to school entry.
  • Assessment of health capital and related outcomes in the first five years of life.

Main Results:

  • Modest effects on children's health capital observed by age four.
  • Reduced hospital attendances were a key driver of observed effects, suggesting improved earlier health.
  • The program showed limited short-term impact on health capital despite significant effects on other human capital dimensions.

Conclusions:

  • The early intervention program demonstrated a limited short-term impact on children's health capital.
  • Improved earlier health, indicated by reduced hospitalizations, was the primary positive outcome.
  • Further research is needed to understand long-term effects and the program's broader impact on human capital.

Keywords:
C93 Field ExperimentHome visiting programI120 Health BehaviorI14 Health and Inequalitychild healthhuman capital formationrandomized controlled trial

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