Principal Investigator
W. Benjamin Goodman, Kenneth A. Dodge, & Yu Bai – Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University; Robert A. Murphy & Karen O’Donnell – Dule University School of Medicine
Project Description
This is a randomized controlled trial of Durham Connects (later renamed Family Connects), a universal home visitation program for families with a newborn child designed to improve children’s well-being through a series of nurse home visits, risk screenings, and referrals to community resources. The study randomly assigned all families who gave birth in Durham County, NC during a 14-month period in 2009-2010 to either receive Family Connects or to a control condition; a subset of 682 of these families were then randomly selected for longitudinal analyses. This five-year follow-up report describes findings on official child maltreatment investigations and emergency department utilization for the 531 families for whom data were available.
Research Questions
- What is the effect of randomization to FC on child maltreatment investigations and emergency medical care through five years of age?
Key Findings
Negative binomial models indicated that families assigned to Family Connects had 39 percent fewer Child Protective Services investigations for suspected child maltreatment through five years of age (95 percent CI, −0.80 to 0.06; 90 percent CI, −0.73 to −0.01; control = 44 total investigations per 100 children and intervention = 27 total investigations per 100 children); intervention effects did not differ across subgroups. Families assigned to Family Connects also had 33 percent less total child emergency medical care use (95 percent CI, −0.59 to −0.14; 90 percent CI, −0.55 to −0.18; control = 338 visits and overnight hospital stays per 100 children and intervention = 227 visits and overnight hospital stays per 100 children). Positive effects held across birth risk, child health insurance, child sex, single-parent status, and racial/ethnic groups. Effects were larger for nonminority families compared with minority families.
Study Citation
Goodman, Benjamin W., Kenneth A. Dodge, Yu Bai, Robert A. Murphy, & Karen O’Donnell. Effect of a Universal Postpartum Nurse Home Visiting Program on Child Maltreatment and Emergency Medical Care at 5 Years of Age: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open, 2021, vol. 4 (issue 7). doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.16024
The Key Findings above were reproduced from the published report and do not necessarily reflect interpretation of Overdeck Family Foundation staff.
