Evaluation of a Home Visiting Program for First Time Parents

Evaluation of a Home Visiting Program for First Time Parents

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the Healthy Families Durham (HFD) program by comparing the traditional 3-year program to 18-months of Healthy Families Durham to Yearly Visits with case management referrals to community services as usual, and to determine whether participation in the program reduces the number of reports for child maltreatment within the first seven years of the child's life.

Inclusion Criteria:

• mother is a first-time parent (has been a primary caregiver of a child for less than 3 months total
• resident of Durham, North Carolina
• mother is being referred during pregnancy
• has at least one of the following risk factors: 16 years old or younger; lack of social support; history of substance abuse in the past 12 months; ever received treatment for alcohol or drug problems; history of domestic violence; history of being abused or neglected as a child; history of mental health problems in past 12 months; past child protective services involvement as a parent

Exclusion Criteria:

• actively suicidal or homicidal
• acutely psychotic
• moderately to severely mentally retarded